Define the biological term community.

Which statement correctly describes the species richness of a community?

• The total number of individual organisms of all species in a habitat
• The number of different species in a community
• The proportion of each species relative to the total number of individuals
• The variety of abiotic factors present within a community

An agricultural researcher compared a heavily-fertilized monoculture ryegrass pasture to a restored wildflower meadow. Both areas were found to contain exactly 15 species of beetles.

Explain why calculating an index of diversity is a more useful measure of biodiversity than recording only species richness in this comparison.