What is Simpson's index?

Simpson's indices are a way of quantifying the biodiversity of communities. The value of Simpson's index reflects how
many different types of species are in a community and how evenly distributed the population of each species is.

The Simpson's index D (introduced by Simpson in 1949) is the probability that any two individuals randomly selected from an
infinitely large community will belong to the same species, i.e.,

D = Σpi2,

where pi is the proportion of individuals in the i-th species.

If you have a finite size community, the formula for calculating Simpson's index (D) is:

D = Σ(ni * (ni - 1)) / (N * (N - 1)),

where:

 ni — Number of individuals in the i-th species; and

 N — Total number of individuals in the community.

Simpson's index is one of the most popular and robust ways to measure diversity in a community; as D increases,
diversity decreases. Although originally proposed to measure diversity in ecological communities, nowadays, we use it
widely in quantifying diversity in other areas as well — for example, gender or ethnicity diversity at organizations.

The Shannon diversity index is another approach for quantifying species diversity.

Simpson's diversity index formula

According to the original formula proposed by Simpson, a higher D value suggested a community with low biodiversity. This
sounds a bit counterintuitive, as typically, a high diversity index should imply a more diverse community. Hence, we usually
express Simpson's diversity index as 1 - D, which is also known as the Gini-Simpson index, i.e.,

Gini-Simpson index = (1 - D) = 1 - [Σ(ni * (ni - 1)) / (N * (N - 1))]

The Gini-Simpson index (or Simpson's index of diversity) measures the probability that two randomly selected
individuals belong to different species.

Another popular index for measuring diversity is the inverse Simpson index:

Inverse Simpson index = 1 / D

How to use Simpson's diversity index calculator?

Let us see how to calculate Simpson's diversity index for the following data set:
 Species label Population

A 300

B 335

C 365
1. Enter the species population, i.e., 300, 335, and 365 in the first, second, and third-row, respectively. You can enter
data for up to 50 species.
2. The calculator will display the Simpson's Index (D = 0.33), Simpson's diversity index (1 - D = 0.67), and
Simpson's reciprocal index (1 / D = 2.99) in the result section.

Example of Simpson's diversity index calculation

Lets us calculate the diversity indices for the same data set as above:

1. Sum the population of individual species to get the total number of observations, N.

N = 300 + 335 + 365 = 1000.

2. Evaluate N * (N - 1):

N * (N - 1) = 1000 * 999 = 999,000.

3. Determine ni * (ni - 1), for each species:

300 * 299 = 89,700; 335 * 334 = 111,890; and 365 * 364 = 132,860.

4. Add the values in step 3 to get Σni * (ni - 1):

89,700 + 111,890 + 132,860 = 334,450.

5. The Simpson's Index (D) is:

D = Σ(ni(ni - 1)) / (N(N - 1))

D = 334,450 / 999,000
D = 0.33.

6. The Simpson's diversity index (or Gini-Simpson index, 1 - D) is:

1 - Σ(ni(ni - 1)) / (N(N - 1)) = 0.67.

7. Simpson's reciprocal index (1 / D) is:

1 / D = 2.99.

As you can see, calculating the diversity indices for large data sets is quite cumbersome and not everyone's cup of tea. That
is why we recommend using Simpson's index calculator so that you can easily estimate Simpson's indices.
Simpson's diversity index interpretation
The Gini-Simpson index score varies between 0 and 1. A high score indicates high diversity, and a low score indicates low
diversity. When the diversity index is zero, the community contains only one species (i.e., no diversity). As the number of
different species increases and the population distribution of species becomes more even, the diversity index increases and
approaches one.

FAQ

How do I calculate Simpson's diversity index?

To calculate Simpson's diversity index for any community, follow the instructions:

1. Add the individual species populations to get N.

2. Determine N × (N - 1).

3. Work out n × (n - 1) for each species, where n is the number of individuals in each species.

4. Sum all the values in step 3.

5. Divide the sum obtained in step 4 by the value obtained in step 2. As a result, you will get Simpson's index D.

6. Evaluate Simpson's diversity index as 1 - D.

How do I use Simpson's diversity index?

Simpson's diversity index gives a measure of community diversity. We can use it to get an idea about how diverse any
specific institution/community is. We can also use it to compare two different communities to see which is more
diverse.

What does a high Simpson's index of diversity indicate?

The higher the value of the index, the greater the diversity of the community. A diversity index close to 1 means that
there are several species in the community, and the population proportion of species is even.

What does a low Simpson's diversity index mean?

A low Simpson's diversity index means that the community is not very diverse. For example, if there are only one species
in the community, Simpson's diversity index is 0.

What is Simpson’s Diversity Index?

Simpson’s diversity index (SDI) measures community diversity. Although it’s commonly used to measure biodiversity, it can also be used to gauge
diversity differences of populations in schools, communities and other locations.
The range is from 0 to 1, where:

 High scores (close to 1) indicate high diversity.

 Low scores (close to 0) indicate low diversity.
One of more the useful aspects of the index is to compare two sets of data to see which is more diverse. For example, if one has an SDI of 0.5 and
another has an SDI of 0.35, then the set with the SDI of 0.5 is more diverse.
Watch the video for an overview, or read on below:
Calculations

Where:
 n = number of individuals of each species
 N = total number of individuals of all species
The following solution steps explain how to solve the problem by hand. I actually used Open Office Math to solve this problem. You can download the
ODS worksheet, with the formulas, here.
Sample question: What is Simpson’s Diversity Index for the following table of 5 species?

Step 1: Insert the total number in the set (89) into the formula N (N – 1) and solve:
N (N – 1) = 89 (89 -1) = 7832
Put this number aside for a moment.

Step 2: Calculate n(n – 1).

1. Subtract 1 from each individual count (see the third column in the table below).
2. Take each answer from (1) and multiply by each n (see the fourth column).
3. Add up all the values from (2) to get 6488.

Step 3: Calculate D:
1. Divide your answer from Step 2 by your answer from Step 1,
2. Subtract your answer from 1.
D = 1 – (6488 / 7832) = 0.17.
The diversity index for this particular set is 0.17.

Simpson’s diversity index cannot be negative. If it is, check your calculations for arithmetic errors.

The Shannon diversity index calculator is a tool which helps you to estimate the diversity of species within a community.
Knowing what the Shannon diversity index is can provide ecologists with useful information about a given habitat.

Read on to learn what the Shannon–Wiener diversity index is, what it can tell you, and how to use the Shannon diversity
index formula.

What is the Shannon diversity index?

The Shannon diversity index (a.k.a. the Shannon–Wiener diversity index) is a popular metric used in ecology. It's based
on Claude Shannon's formula for entropy and estimates species diversity. The index takes into account the number of
species living in a habitat (richness) and their relative abundance (evenness).
 How to use the Shannon diversity index calculator?
To get the Shannon-Wiener diversity index for your data set, input the number of individuals in each species into the
calculator. You can enter up to 40 samples.

At the bottom, you'll see the results - Shannon diversity index, evenness, richness, the total number of individuals, and
average population size. The default results are rounded to three significant figures. You can change the rounding in
the advanced mode of the Shannon diversity index calculator.

Another thing you can set up in the advanced mode is the base of the logarithm used in a formula for the Shannon index.
By default, the calculator uses the natural logarithm.

Shannon diversity index formula

What is the Shannon diversity index mathematically? Have a look at the equation:

H = -∑[(pi) * log(pi)],

where:

 H - Shannon diversity index;

 pi - Proportion of individuals of i-th species in a whole community:

pi = n / N,

where:

 n - individuals of a given type/species; and

 N - total number of individuals in a community,

 ∑ - Sum symbol; and

 log - Usually the natural logarithm, but the base of the logarithm is arbitrary (10 and 2 based logarithms are also
used).

How to calculate the Shannon diversity index?

Use the Shannon diversity index formula:

H = -∑[(pi) × ln(pi)]

1. Calculate the proportion (pi) of each species - divide the number of individuals in a species by the total number of
individuals in the community.
2. For each species, multiply the proportion by the logarithm of the proportion.

3. Sum all the numbers from step 2.

4. Multiply the sum by -1.

Example of how to calculate Shannon diversity index

Imagine we need to assess the species diversity in a part of a rain forest. We know that 5 scarlet
macaws, 13 blue morpho butterflies, 2 capybaras, 5 three-toed sloths, and 1 jaguar live in the region we
are interested in.

Species Number of individuals (n) Proportion p  = n / N i ln(p )

i P  * ln(p )
i i

Scarlet Macaw 5 0.2 -1.609 -0.322

Blue Morpho Butterfly 12 0.48 -0.734 -0.352

Capybara 2 0.08 -2.526 -0.202

Three-Toed Sloth 5 0.2 -1.609 -0.322

Jaguar 1 0.04 -3.219 -0.129

To calculate diversity, we will use the Shannon diversity index formula:

H = -∑[(pi) * ln(pi)]

1. First of all, we need the total number of individuals:

N = 5 + 12 + 2 + 5 + 1 = 25.

2. For each species, calculate its proportion in the whole community (third column of the table).
3. Multiply ln(pi) by pi and round the answer to three decimal places (fourth column).

4. Sum all the results from the final column according to the Shannon-Wiener diversity index equation. Since we were
going to multiply them by -1, we can do it straight away and ignore the minus signs:

H = 0.322 + 0.352 + 0.202 + 0.322 + 0.129 = 1.327

5. Here's our rounded Shannon-Wiener diversity index: H ≈ 1.3.

Shannon diversity index's range of values

The minimum value the Shannon diversity index can take is 0. Such a number would tell us that there's no diversity -
only one species is found in that habitat.

There's no upper limit to the index. The maximum value occurs when all species have the same number of individuals. It
equals log(k), where k is the number of species.

To give you some perspective on the Shannon diversity index's range of values (using the natural logarithm as the base): for
100 species, the maximum possible value would be 4.605, for 1,000 species: 6.908, for 10,000 species: 9.21, for 1,000,000
species: 13.816. For all eukaryotic species discovered on Earth, the maximum possible would equal log(8,700,000) =
15.98.

In real-world ecological data, the Shannon diversity index's range of values is usually 1.5 - 3.5.
FAQ

What does the Shannon diversity index tell you?

The Shannon diversity index tells you how diverse the species in a given community are. It rises with the number of
species and the evenness of their abundance.

How to interpret the Shannon diversity index?

The higher the index, the more diverse the species are in the habitat. If the index equals 0, only one species is present in
the community.

It may be easier to interpret the result if you calculate the evenness: E = H / ln(k), where k is the number of species.
Evenness gives you a value between 0 and 1 (so you can think of it as a percentage). Remember: a habitat's diversity
increases when its evenness becomes closer to 1.

Can Shannon diversity index be over 1?

Yes, Shannon diversity index can go over 1. For example, the index for a community of 6 species with 100 individuals each
equals around 1.79. The Shannon index shouldn't be confused with evenness, another commonly used metric in ecology,
which takes values between 0 and 1.