Name: Section:

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE ACTIVITY - Species Diversity Simulation

Species diversity takes into account the number of species (species richness), evenness and abundance of
species in a community. Ecologists use diversity indices to measure species diversity. A healthy biological
community usually supports high species diversity.
Shannon index of diversity (H’) is one of the most common indices used to estimate the species diversity
and can be computed using the following formula:

⟦ ⟧
where:

- summation
pi – relative abundance
= ni/N

m
= number of individuals in species i/ total number of individuals of all species

er as
ln – natural logarithm

co
eH w
For this activity, species diversity will be simulated using the different types of cars in your vicinity/ neighbourhood.

o.
1. Record the number of cars by “species” i.e. their manufacturer and type (model)
rs e
2. Count the number of individuals per “species”.
ou urc
3. Calculate the relative abundance (pi) using the equation given above.
4. Record all your data in the table below.
5. Use a calculator for the ln (natural log) function to calculate the data for the last 2 columns.
o
aC s

Self-assessment questions:
vi y re

1. What is the most abundant “species”? ________________________________________

2. What is the least abundant “species”? ________________________________________
3. There are how many species were you able to identify? __________________________
ed d

4. Based on your data, do you have high index of diversity? Explain the significance of having high
ar stu

species diversity in biological communities.

is
Th
sh

5. What is a keystone species? How will this species affect the diversity in biological communities?

This study source was downloaded by 100000830624721 from CourseHero.com on 09-12-2021 02:11:42 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/67335796/Species-Diversity-Simulation-Activitypdf/
 “Species” Number of
“Species” of Cars Manufacturer
identifier, “individuals” pi ln (pi) pi (ln (pi))
and model)
i ni
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

m
13

er as
14

co
eH w
15
16

o.
rs e 17
ou urc
18
19
o

20
aC s

21
vi y re

22
23
24
ed d

25
ar stu

26
27
28
is

29
Th

30
TOTAL

pi (ln (pi))
sh

Shannon Index of Diversity

This study source was downloaded by 100000830624721 from CourseHero.com on 09-12-2021 02:11:42 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/67335796/Species-Diversity-Simulation-Activitypdf/
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