Simpson's Diversity

• Measure of diversity in a habitat

• Accounts for species richness and eveness

• n = number of individuals of each species

• N = total number of individuals of all species

• high value = diverse habitat

  • environmental change may only affect 1 or 2 species

• low value = habitat dominated by a few species

  • small environmental change could affect whole habitat

Example

Species	n	n/N	n/N₂
woodlouse	22	0.289	0.0838
mouse	5	0.0658	0.004
shrew	7	0.0131	0.0002
earthworm	32	0.421	0.177
grasshopper	15	0.197	0.039
owl	1	0.0131	0.0002
TOTAL	N: 76	-	𝝨 0.304

Simpson’s Diversity = 1-0.304 = 0.696

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