Investigating diversity

Question 6

Easy

Ecologists investigated the diversity of plant species in two different grassland ecosystems: an organically managed meadow and an intensively grazed pasture.

Table 1 shows the raw data for the number of individuals of five plant species found in a quadrat sample from the organically managed meadow.

Table 1

Plant species	Number of individuals ( $n$ )
Oxeye daisy	15
Red clover	10
Common knapweed	5
Meadow buttercup	12
Yarrow	8

Suggest one reason why the ecologists used an index of diversity rather than just species richness (the number of different species) to compare the two grasslands.

[1]

The ecologists used this equation to calculate the index of diversity ( $d$ ):

$\sum \left(\frac{n}{N}\right)^2$

where $n$ is the number of individuals of each species and $N$ is the total number of individuals of all species.

Use this equation and the data in Table 1 to calculate the index of diversity for this meadow. Give your answer to 3 significant figures.

[2]

Investigating diversity

Question 6

Table 1

Investigating diversity Questions

Investigating diversity

Question 6

Table 1

Investigating diversity Questions