5.3.1.

Lesson#4: Community Similarity

To-Do Date: Nov 28 at 8:30am

In Lesson#3, you have learned different indices to measure diversity.  When comparing to
communities, values of the same indices computed are simply compared to determine which
community has higher diversity.  In addition to this, one can actually compare the number of species
common to both communities using the indices called similarity coefficients.  This simply consider a
matrix of presence-absence for two areas, A and B.

No. of species present in Area No. of species present in Area

A A
No. of species present in Area
a b
B
No. of species absent in Area B c d

Where:

a = no. of species common to both sites;

b = no. of species in site B, but not in A;

c = no. of species in site A,  but not in B; and

d = no. of species absent in both samples*

If two communities being compared exhibit few species despite the high richness in a community
nearby, these two communities may be too similar and the similarity coefficient may fail to show.  So
the measure of d (measure of negative matches) is utilized.

Among the indices for community coefficient, two are commonly used:

1.  Jaccard coefficient - compares two communities based on which species are shared and which
ones are distinct; comparison ranges from 0% - 100%.  Although easy to interpret, it is too sensitive
to small samples and may give erroneous values.

CJ =

2.  Sorensen's coefficient (also known as coefficient of community) - gives more weight on number of
similar species rather than those that are mismatch.  

CC =

Using a hypothetical data below, the two similarity coefficients can be computed.
SPECIES Unrestored Site Restored Site
Yellow-vented bulbul 7 11
Olive-backed sunbird 5 10
Ashy tailorbird 2 3
Spotted dove 0 4
Blue winged pitta 1 3
Blue-throated bee eater 0 4
Cuckoo doves 2 0
Less coucal 0 1
Richard's pipit 2 0
Red-eyed bulbul 0 2
Species richness 6 8
Number of individuals 19 38

Using Jaccard's coefficient:

CJ =

     =  4/(4+4+2)

     = 0.40

Using Sorensen's coefficient:

CCS =

        = (2)(4)/(8+4+2)

        = 0.57

When comparing more than two sites, a cluster analysis may be formed.  This involves constructing
a matrix of similarity by computing similarity between each two pair of sites.  Then successively the
sites with the highest similarity value are joined into a cluster.

Study the attached file below taken from Stiling (2004) as an example of how to make cluster
analysis.

Cluster analysis Stiling.pdf (https://usls.instructure.com/courses/20716/files/5972682?wrap=1)

(https://usls.instructure.com/courses/20716/files/5972682/download?download_frd=1)  

The use of similarity coefficients and cluster analysis are very useful for conservation.