Indices of Association and Species Diversity Indices

Much has been written on species diversity but it remains hard to define. There has been a proliferation of indices and models for measuring diversity followed by many critiques of these indices. Southwood (1978) and Southwood and Henderson (2000) give good accounts of this topic and provide numerous references to ecological papers, while Pielou’s (1975) book on mathematical approaches to species diversity remains a key reference. Nilsson et al. (1988) give a good account of species richness, species area relationships and habitat diversity. Whittaker (1972) reviews the subject of diversity and proposes a useful classification of various types of diversity (α, β, and γ). Magurran (1988) has written an easily understood book on diversity and discusses many of the diversity indices, most of which are accompanied by worked examples. It is not appropriate to summarise here all the information on species coexistence (association) and diversity, consequently only a few of the more useful, or more commonly used, indices together with those that have been used in mosquito studies, are presented.