APES Unit 2: Wolcott and Winchester

Biodiversity Using Simpson’s Index

INTRODUCTION
Biodiversity is defined as the total number of species living in an ecosystem. At
present about 1.5 million species have been named, but this figure is not certain. It is
impossible to know how many species actually exist because we have not explored
every part of the biosphere yet. Most species are also less than 1mm long so they are
easily overlooked. Human actions such as over exploitation, islandisation, habitat
destruction, introduction of alien species as well as pollution have all contributed to a
decrease in local and global biodiversity.
There are several reasons why we should want to maintain a high biodiversity on Earth. High biodiversity is an
indication of the health of an ecosystem and if an ecosystem comes under stress from over exploitation or
pollution, it will show low diversity. Once diversity is lost from an ecosystem it can’t recover easily because
species need to migrate back in from neighboring ecosystems or if the organism has become extinct, it is lost
forever.
In order to measure biodiversity, scientists must take two factors into consideration: species richness and the
relative abundance (evenness) of each species. Species richness is a measure of the number of different kinds
of organisms present in a particular area. Evenness compares the similarity of the population size of each of the
species present.
The Simpson’s Diversity Index (inverse) is calculated as follows:
D
 nn  1
D = Diversity
N = total number of individuals
N N   1
n = numbers of each different species (relative abundance of each species)

Simpson’s Diversity Index takes into account the number of species present, as well as the abundance of each
species. The value of this index starts with 0 as the lowest possible figure. When using the Simpsons Index, the
number you will calculate should be a value between zero and one with 0 < D < 1. Values near zero indicate a
highly diverse (heterogeneous) ecosystem and values near one indicate a less diverse (homogeneous) ecosystem.
The LOWER the value, the GREATER the diversity.
A low value of D suggests a stable and ancient site and a high value of D could suggest pollution, recent
colonization or agricultural management (disturbance of some sort). The index is normally used in studies of
vegetation but can also be applied to comparisons of animals (or even all species) diversity.
Example of all calculations relating to Community Diversity
Putting the figures into the formula for
Species Number (n) n(n-1)
Simpson's Diversity Index:
Beetles 2 2
Simpson’s Diversity Index:
Spiders 20 380
nn  1

True-bugs 3 6
Caterpillars/Sawflies 3 6 D
Total ( N) 28 394 N N  1
D = 2(2-1) + 20(20-1) + 3(3-1) + 3(3-1)
Species Richness = 4 . 28 ( 28 – 1 )
(4 different species present)
D = 2 + 380 + 6 + 6  = 394
Relative Species Evenness: Low 756 756
(20 vs 2 vs 3 vs 3)
D = 0.52
Relative Level of Species Dominance: High
(One species dominates (spiders) with 20 individuals) 0 = Very High Diversity
1= Very Low Diversity
PRE-LAB QUESTIONS:
1. Use Simpson’s Diversity Index to determine which of the following 5 communities of 100 individuals is
most diverse.
 Community 1 contains 20 species with 5 individuals in the first species, and 1 individual in each of
the remaining species.
 Community 2 contains 5 species, but there are 20 individuals in each species.
 Community 3 contains 2 species, with 50 individuals in each species.
 Community 4 contains 2 species, with 99 individuals in one and 1 individual in the other.
 Community 5 contains 10 species, with 91 individuals in one and 1 individual in the other 9 species.

2. Describe how species evenness compares among the five communities outlined in
question 1. How does species evenness affect species diversity? Explain.

PROCEDURE:
1. Individually read the background material
2. Individually complete the Pre-lab questions
3. Work in groups of 2-3.
4. You will be sampling the car species surrounding the school. You must decide with your
group members what defines a species (is it make, color, type of vehicle, etc.)

5. You will have 4 car communities: Wolcott east side, Wolcott west side, Winchester east side,
Winchester west side.

6. Prepare a data table that will assist in the data collection process. Remember that a well-designed data
table can help this process immensely.

7. Hopefully there will not be much immigration or emigration (cars coming and going) during our
sampling time. But, if you do notice some, use your best judgment.

8. You must record every car on the block. No individual car may be skipped

9. Individually calculate the Simpson’s Diversity Index for each parking lot. It is YOUR responsibility to
organize the data into a chart and do all of the calculations on your OWN. You may do calculations by
hand or use a spreadsheet. You must include your work from the calculations in the lab write up.
10. Individually determine the Species Richness, Relative Species Evenness, and Relative Level of Species
Dominance for each lot. These, along with the Diversity calculations, will be included in the Data
Processing/Presentation section of your lab write up.
NAME:___________________________________ /50 SIMPSON’S LAB

Lab Partners: ___________________________________&________________________________________

HYPOTHESIS: ___________________________________________________________________________
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PRE-LAB QUESTIONS: (SHOW your work)

WORK ANSWER

Community #1

Community #2

Community #3
5
5
Community #4

Community #5

2. Describe how species evenness compares among the five communities outlined in question 1.
Community #1 is more or less diverse than community #2: more / less
Community #2 is more or less diverse than community #3: more / less
Community #3 is more or less diverse than community #4: more / less
2
Community #4 is more or less diverse than community #5: more / less
Community #5 is more or less diverse than community #1: more / less

3. How does species evenness affect species diversity? Relationship (circle): inverse / direct
Explain: ______________________________________________________________________________

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DATA COLLECTION & CALCULATIONS:

**STAPLE YOUR RAW DATA FOR EACH OF THE PARKING LOT COMMUNITIES TO THIS LAB**

YOU MUST INCLUDE YOUR WORK FORCALCULATING THE SIMPSONS INDEX

FOR EACH COMMUNITY ON AN ATTACHED SHEET! 9

DATA PROCESSING/PRESENTATION:
 Winchester
Wolcott East Wolcott West Winchester East
West
Simpson’s
Index
Species
Richness
6 Relative
Evenness
Relative
Level of
Species
Dominance
ANALYSIS:
1. Discuss the ecosystem metaphor. Why have we used cars rather than counting actual species in a
real ecosystem? How do the cars in the parking lot represent species in an ecological community?
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2. Which of the four communities is most diverse? Support your conclusion with experimental data.
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3. Various human disturbances can cause diversity to change. Based on your data, if all four
communities were similar in species composition, which one would you conclude has most likely
experienced some sort of human disturbance? Explain.
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 4. Did any species dominate in any community? If so, explain what might cause this dominance (be
sure to relate it to environmental dominance). Dominate Species: ______________________________
Because:_______________________________________________________________________________

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5. Explain how immigration and emigration can affect species diversity and richness.
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CONCLUSION/EVALUATION:
6. Summarize your overall conclusions. REMEMBER: NO NEW INFO IN THE CONCLUSION & ADDRESS YOUR HYPOTHESIS!

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7. Thoroughly discuss the opportunities for error in your methods/calculations/conclusions.
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8. How could this lab be changed to make it better for future APES classes?

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Simpson’s Index - AP Name:___________________________________
LAB Rubric GRADE: ____________/ 50

1. Abstract (5 pts)
Brief summary of the purpose, basic procedure, findings

2. Hypothesis & Explanation (5 pts)

3. Pre-Lab Questions (5 pts)

(2 pts)- Which community is most diverse? Provide calculations
(3 pts)- Describe how evenness compares in the three communities. How does evenness affect
diversity? Explain.

4. Data Collection (5 pts)

Rewrite your results (units included)
Raw data for all 3 lots included

5. Data Processing/Presentation (5 pts)

Species richness for each lot
Simpson’s Diversity Index for each lot
Relative Evenness for each lot
Relative level of species dominance

6. Analysis (15 pts)

9. Discuss the ecosystem metaphor. Why have we used cars rather than counting actual species
in a real ecosystem? How do the cars in the parking lot represent species in an ecological
community?
10. Which parking lot community is most diverse? Support your conclusion with
experimental data.
11. If all "communities" were similar in make-up, which one would you conclude has most
likely experienced some sort of human disturbance? Explain.
12. Did any species dominate in any "community"? If so, explain.
13. Explain how immigration and emigration can affect species diversity and richness.

7. Conclusion/Evaluation (10 pts)

 Summarize your overall conclusions.
 NO NEW INFORMATION IN YOUR CONCLUSION
 Thoroughly discuss the opportunities for error in your methods/calculations/conclusions.
 How could this lab be changed in the future?

OVERALL LAB COMMENTS: