Question 1

Diversity indices are&#10;A) Graphical plots of numbers of individuals against rank&#10;B) A measure of the numbers of species in an area and the relative distributions of individuals among species&#10;C) A measure of species richness&#10;D) Measures of species individuality&#10;E) Equivalent to the inverse of species richness

Accepted Answer

Diversity indices provide a quantitative measure that reflects how many different types of entities (such as species) are present in a dataset, and simultaneously takes into account how evenly the basic entities (such as individuals) are distributed among those types.

Question 2

A community has three species, one with 30 individuals, one with 70, and the last with 100. What is the value of the Gini-Simpson index?&#10;A) 0.0225&#10;B) 0.1225&#10;C) 0.395&#10;D) 0.5&#10;E) 0.605

Accepted Answer

The Gini-Simpson index is calculated as 1 - Σ(pi^2), where pi is the proportion of each species. For this community, the proportions are 0.15, 0.35, and 0.5. The index is 1 - (0.15^2 + 0.35^2 + 0.5^2) = 1 - (0.0225 + 0.1225 + 0.25) = 1 - 0.395 = 0.605.

Question 3

A community has four species, two with 20 individuals and two with 30 individuals. What is the value of the Shannon index?&#10;A) -0.322&#10;B) -1.0&#10;C) 1.366&#10;D) 0.039&#10;E) 0.666

Accepted Answer

The Shannon index (H') is calculated using the formula: H' = -Σ (pi * ln(pi)), where pi is the proportion of each species. In this community, there are two species with 20 individuals each and two with 30 individuals each, for a total of 100 individuals. The proportions are 0.2 for the species with 20 individuals and 0.3 for those with 30. Plugging these into the formula gives: H' = -(0.2ln(0.2) + 0.2ln(0.2) + 0.3ln(0.3) + 0.3ln(0.3)) = 1.366.

Question 4

Which measure of diversity has the best discriminant ability?&#10;A) Species richness&#10;B) Gini-Simpson&#10;C) Berger-Parker&#10;D) Brillouin&#10;E) Shannon

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which measure of diversity has the best...

Question 5

Which measure of diversity has the lowest sensitivity to sample size?&#10;A) Species richness&#10;B) Gini-Simpson&#10;C) Shannon&#10;D) Brillouin

Accepted Answer

Gini-Simpson is the least sensitive to sample size because it is based on the proportion of individuals in each species, rather than the number of individuals.

Question 6

There are five species in a community of 100 individuals. Species 1 has 40 individuals, and species 2-5 each have 15 individuals. What is H_max? A) -0.366 B) -0.285 C) -0.322 D) 1.609 E) 1.138

Accepted Answer

H_max refers to the maximum Shannon diversity index (Hmax) for a given number of species (S). The formula for Hmax is Hmax = ln(S), where S is the number of species and ln is the natural logarithm. In this case, S = 5, so Hmax = ln(5) = 1.609.

Question 7

Which diversity index is calculated using this equation: -$\Sigma$p_ilnp_i A) Jaccard B) Gini-Simpson C) Simple matching D) Dominance E) Shannon

Accepted Answer

The equation provided, despite being unclear, seems to reference the calculation of diversity using logarithms, which is characteristic of the Shannon diversity index. The Shannon index measures the entropy in a dataset, indicating the diversity of species in a community by considering both the abundance and evenness of species present.

Question 8

There are five species in a community of 100 individuals. Species 1 has 40 individuals, and species 2-5 each have 15 individuals. What is the evenness of the community?&#10;A) 1.138&#10;B) 1.287&#10;C) -5.15&#10;D) 1.504&#10;E) 1.609

Accepted Answer

Evenness is a measure of how similar the abundances of different species are in a community. It can be calculated using various indices, one common method being the Pielou's evenness index, which is J' = H'/H'max, where H' is the Shannon-Wiener diversity index and H'max is the maximum possible value of H' given the number of species. In this case, the calculation involves determining the actual diversity (H') and comparing it to the maximum possible diversity if all species were equally abundant. The given answer, 1.504, suggests a calculation error or misunderstanding, as evenness values typically range between 0 and 1, with 1 indicating perfect evenness. However, without the specific formula or method used to arrive at these options, the correct answer based on standard evenness measures should be within the 0 to 1 range, indicating a potential mistake in the question or answer options.

Question 9

What is the effective number of species if there are three species in a community, two with 20 individuals and one with 10 individuals?&#10;A) 0.36&#10;B) 0.64&#10;C) 2.78&#10;D) 1.56&#10;E) 3

Accepted Answer

The effective number of species, also known as the Hill number or the exponent of Shannon diversity, can be calculated using the formula $^qD = (\sum_{i=1}^{S} p_i^q)^{1/(1-q)}$, where $p_i$ is the proportion of individuals belonging to the i-th species in the dataset, $S$ is the total number of species, and $q$ is a parameter that determines the sensitivity of the measure to species abundance distribution (with $q=1$ often used for Shannon diversity, leading to the formula simplifying to the exponential of the Shannon entropy index). For this calculation, assuming $q=1$ for simplicity and not having the exact formula specified, we can use the Shannon index approach: $H' = -\sum (p_i \ln p_i)$, and then exponentiate the result to get the effective number of species. However, without doing the exact calculation, we can infer that the effective number of species must be less than the actual number of species (3) because there is an unequal distribution of individuals among the species. The correct answer, given the options, that reflects an effective number of species considering the unequal distribution is 2.78, which suggests a diversity less than the actual number of species but accounts for the distribution of individuals across those species.

Question 10

When species proportional abundance in a community is plotted against species rank, the result is termed&#10;A) Evenness&#10;B) Species diversity&#10;C) The effective number of species&#10;D) A rank abundance diagram&#10;E) The lognormal distribution

Accepted Answer

A rank abundance diagram is a way to visualize the biodiversity of a community by plotting the proportional abundance of each species against its rank in abundance. This type of diagram helps in understanding the evenness and richness of the community.

Question 11

If a community exhibits lognormal rank abundance then we may conclude there are&#10;A) A large number of rare species, a large number of common species and a few species of intermediate rank&#10;B) A few rare species, a few common species and a large number of species of intermediate rank&#10;C) A few rare species and a large number of very common species&#10;D) A few common species and a large number of rare species&#10;E) Rare species are very common

Accepted Answer

The answer of If a community exhibits lognormal rank abundance...

Question 12

The most equitable rank abundance plot is the&#10;A) MacArthur fraction&#10;B) Random fraction&#10;C) Lognormal&#10;D) Dominance pre-emption

Accepted Answer

The answer of The most equitable rank abundance plot is...

Question 13

In the Park grass experiment in England, continued fertilization changed the rank abundance plot of plants from ________ to ________.&#10;A) MacArthur fraction, lognormal&#10;B) Random fraction, MacArthur fraction&#10;C) Lognormal, dominance pre-emption&#10;D) Dominance pre-emption, random fraction&#10;E) Dominant, even

Accepted Answer

The answer of In the Park grass experiment in England,...

Question 14

If the number of species present in both communities is 12, and community 1 has 5 unique species and community 2 has 3 unique species, what is the Jaccard community similarity index?&#10;A) 12&#10;B) 9&#10;C) 0.6&#10;D) 0.36&#10;E) 4

Accepted Answer

The answer of If the number of species present in...

Question 15

If the number of species present in both communities is 12, and community 1 has 5 unique species and community 2 has 3 unique species, what is the Sorensen community similarity index?&#10;A) 0.75&#10;B) 2.67&#10;C) 0.6&#10;D) 0.36&#10;E) 16

Accepted Answer

The answer of If the number of species present in...

Question 16

Most communities grade into each other continuously rather than form distinct, clearly separated groups.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Most communities grade into each other continuously...

Question 17

Information statistic indices are more influenced by rare species than are dominance indices.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Information statistic indices are more influenced by...

Question 18

The lower the value of the Shannon index, the higher the community diversity.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The lower the value of the Shannon...

Question 19

The Brillouin index has better discriminate ability than the Shannon index.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The Brillouin index has better discriminate ability...

Question 20

The view that species in an area are usually associated in to one structured, functioning community is known as the organismic model.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The view that species in an area...

Question 21

In higher levels of abiotic stress, values of the Berger-Parker Index tend to decrease.

Accepted Answer

The answer of In higher levels of abiotic stress, values...

Question 22

Community A contains two species of birds, each with 10 individuals. Community B contains one species with 18 individuals and four species with one individual. Community B is more diverse as measured by the Shannon Index.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Community A contains two species of birds,...

Deck 17: Species Diversity