Laboratory 2: Measuring Biodiversity of Trees in

Ojibway Park
03-55-210
OBJECTIVES
1.
2.

To better understand the process of measuring biodiversity.

To learn how to identify tree species using a field guide.

PREPARATION
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.

Read Chapter 12 Biodiversity from your assigned text : Ecology A Canadian Context
Second Edition by Nelson.
Read this exercise completely and carefully before coming to lab, especially the section
on how to identify a tree.
Dress accordingly! Wear rain gear if it is forecast to rain (rain suits are best since
umbrellas often do not work well in the field), wear warm or cool clothes as appropriate,
always were shoes appropriate for walking over rough terrain or in the woods, and wear
long pants to reduce the chance of scratches and insect bites.
Please bring a notebook for data collection and/or note-taking. NO Lap Tops! Cell
phones are permitted and can be used to take pictures.
Although every effort will be made to return by the official end of lab time, this cannot
always be guaranteed and students should be prepared for a possible late return to
campus.

INTRODUCTION
Biodiversity includes all of the biological variation occurring at three levels of
organization; genetic variation within a population or species, the number of species within a
community or defined area, or the assortment of communities occurring within an ecoscape
(the landscapes of terrestrial environments and the seascapes of marine.) Biodiversity
research could address realms of taxa including insects, birds, fish, plants etc. In this lab we
will examine the biodiversity of tree species within the Ojibway Park conservation area using
different methods to measure and assess the level of biodiversity.
The term biodiversity describes the number and abundance of species inhabiting a
community or a habitat. Ecologists define species diversity on the basis of two factors; the
number of species in the community (species richness) and the relative abundance of
species (species evenness).
The concept of biodiversity is important to ecologists, since this serves as a starting
point in attempts to explain patterns of community structure and dynamics. It allows us to
determine which areas are in need of conservation, protecting rare species, and it helps us to
diagnose the impact of environmental change on a community.
In this exercise you will examine several concepts related to measuring biodiversity
(otherwise known as alpha diversity).

MEASURING AND ANALYZING BIODIVERSITY

The simplest measure of biodiversity is the total number of species present in a
community, termed species richness and symbolized by S. The species that make up a
community are not however always equally abundant. Therefore, simply determining S may
not always give a complete picture of the community. For instance, consider the two
hypothetical communities below:
# of Individuals in:
Community X

Community Z

Species 1

96

33

Species 2

33

Species 3

34

If we were basing our assessment of the communities only on S, we would say they
were the same, since S = 3 in both. However, this clearly is not the case. Community X is
strongly dominated by species 1, while species in community Z are essentially equally
abundant. To ecologists, community Z looks more diverse than community X, since
community X consists, for practical purposes, of just a single species.
SHANNON AND SIMPSON INDICES
Species diversity is a reported indicator that takes abundance into account,
accommodating for differences amoung species in their rarity and commonness using both
the number of species (species richness) and relative abundance or proportion of species (i).
Species diversity increases as as the numbers of individuals in the total population are more
equally distributed amoung the species. For example, in your defined habitat:
(i) = # of 1 tree species
Total # of tree species
In order to quantify species diversity, and to take abundance into account we often
calculate a diversity index, the two most common of which are the Shannon index (a.k.a.
Shannon-Weaver or Shannon-Weiner index) and the Simpson index.
The Shannon index (H) is a measure of diversity of a species, providing an estimate of
the number of species present. High values of H would be representative of more diverse
communities. A community with only one species would have an H value of 0 because P i
would equal 1 and be multiplied by ln P i which would equal zero. If the species are evenly
distributed then the H value would be high. So the H value allows us to know not only the
number of species but how the abundance of the species is distributed among all the species
in the community.
The Simpson index (D) measures the probability that two individuals randomly
selected from a sample will belong to the same species. Both the Shannon and Simpson
indices use the variable p i, which is simply the proportion of species i in the population, from
the above example, (the number of individuals of species i divided by the total number of
individuals in the population). The formulas for each index are as follows:

Shannon index: H = - (pi *ln pi)

Simpson index: D = 1 / (pi2)
where ln is the natural log function. For example, in community X we have;
p1 = 0.96 (=96/100), p2 = 0.03 (=3/100), and p3 = 0.01 (=1/100). Using these values,
we can calculate:
H = - [(0.96)*(ln 0.96) + (0.03)*(ln 0.03) + (0.01)*(ln 0.01)] = 0.19
D = 1 / [(0.96)2 + (0.03)2 + (0.01)2] = 1 / (0.9226) = 1.08.
Using the same formulas, you can calculate values of H = 1.10 and D = 2.99 for
community Z (try it and see). As you can see, for a given community H and D do not give the
same value. However, H and D are both larger in community Z. Thus, communities with
more equal abundances among the different species will have a higher diversity, assuming
they have equal richness.
There is also a measure called species evenness, which attempts to measure
the equality of the abundances for each species. The formulas for evenness are given below:
Shannon evenness index: J = H / ln(S)
Simpson evenness index: E = D / S.
Using our values calculated above, we get J = 0.17 and E = 0.36 for community X, and
J = 0.9999 and E = 0.9998 for community Z. Both E or J have a maximum value of 1 which
occurs when all species have equal abundances. Note that in this example, community Z has
greater evenness than community X.
SPECIES ACCUMULATION AND THE RANK-ABUNDANCE CURVES
Typically, our estimate of S is based on a series of samples taken from the habitat, with S
increasing every time we find a new species. We can summarize the results of this process
with a species accumulation curve (also called a species-area curve):

Two important aspects about this graph is 1) the y-axis counts cumulative number of
species; that is, for each new sample collected only new species are added to the already
existing total and 2) the curve flattens as you increase the number of samples taken. In this

example, only about 22 organisms are collected to identify 10 distinct species but an
additional 80+ individuals must be sampled to identify another 10 distinct species (that is,
you dont get to 20 total species until youve gone through about 105 individuals). This
indicates that, initially, you find a lot of new species, but as you go along the chances of
finding something new gradually decreases, since in later samples most of the organisms you
collect have previously been collected.
A second way to illustrate our results is to construct a graph of proportional abundance
versus rank (with rank = 1 being the most abundant, rank =2 being second most abundant,
and so on), which we call a rank-abundance curve:

Youll note that all rank-abundance curves decline as the rank increases, but some do
so more steeply than others. For example, the curve labeled Bromilead, Rain goes down
much more rapidly than does, for instance, the curve Cup, Rain. This tells you that the
Bromilead, Rain community is less even than the Cup, Rain community; in other words,
the bromeliad community is dominated by a few common species, while the cup community
has a number of equally common species.
PROCEDURE:
During lab you will examine tree communities within the Ojibway conservation area. You
will attempt identify all of the tree species in that area using the field guides provided (see
information below). Once you have collected the tree species data, you will answer the
questions in the lab report.
TREE IDENTIFICATION
Although there are many ways to identify trees, including specific keys or molecular
techniques, for this lab you will be using a variety of field guides to identify different trees in
each habitat. When you are examining each tree be sure to make notes about its approximate
location (in case you have to go back to it) the bark, leaves, any fruit present [and if possible

take a picture of the bark and leaves] (for future reference). Ideally you will identify the trees
during lab time. However, because there is a limited time during lab to work on the
assignment, you may have to use your notes after lab to confirm the identity of trees you were
not able to complete during the allotted lab time. You may not be able to assign all trees
accurately, but do your best and be sure to categorize at least 15-20 trees to the species level
(or genus or family levels if necessary). Invariably you will have replication in terms of the
species found, so once you identify a specific tree it will be easy to lump it in with others of
the same species. There is no need to identify shrubs. Do not climb any trees.
Note: you must return the guides before leaving the park or face a 10% penalty on
the lab report.

Measuring Biodiversity Report

NAME: _________________________________
STUDENT #: __________________________
DATE: _______________
MARK: ______________
TA/GA Name: ______________

QUESTIONS
1. Be sure to attach your raw hand-written notes from the field (i.e. notes used to identify
trees). (5 marks)
2.

Calculate species richness (S), species diversity (H and D), and species evenness (J and
E). Be sure to show your work (15 marks).

3.

You will plot a species accumulation curve and a rank-abundance curve. Be sure to
carefully label your axes Use excel (or any other plotting software) for this question. (10
marks)