Diversity indices and species abundance models

Abstract

A quick dip into the literature on diversity reveals a bewildering range of indices. Each of these indices seeks to characterize the diversity of a sample or community by a single number. To add yet more confusion an index may be known by more than one name and written in a variety of notations using a range of log bases. This diversity of diversity indices has arisen because, for a number of years, it was standard practice for an author to review existing indices, denounce them as useless, and promptly invent a new index. Southwood (1978) notes an interesting parallel in the proliferation of new designs of light traps and new permutations of diversity measures.