A New Species Richness Measure Improved From Margalef And Menhinick Indices

Abstract

In the present study, a new estimator ((_ ^(α^*))D_MM ) is proposed to measure species richness. Its’ essential inputs are alfa (α) scale parameters of Margalef (D_MG ) and Menhinick (D_MN ) indices. To evaluate the performance of (_ ^(α^*))D_MM , both hypothetical and natural community datasets were used. The computations were performed using a spreadsheet program created for (_ ^(α^*))D_MM . The new proposed estimator is also integrated into the BİÇEB software. According to estimation results, (_ ^(α^*))D_MM seems to be a better form rather than D_MG and D_MN. Therefore it may be employed for comparing species richness of the natural communities. To better understand the performance of (_ ^(α^*))D_MM , further studies should be generated using various types of real ecological data.

Keywords

• Alpha diversity
• Assemblage
• BİÇEB software
• Species richness
• Diversity estimators

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