Using Biodiversity Indices Effectively: Considerations for Forest Management

Abstract

Since biodiversity is a multifaceted aspect of natural systems, several indices have been suggested to measure it. In this paper, we examined a number of well-known diversity indexes to see whether some performed better than others when applied to forest data. In order to reach this goal, we used data on basic forest variables (such as the diameters, heights, and volumes of trees) from forest plots to see if common diversity indices lead to the same conclusions about changes in biodiversity in a pairwise comparison (i.e., comparing the same region at two different times or two different regions at the same time). Out of a collection of 17 diversity indices, 8 of them exhibited robustness, indicating their constant ability to demonstrate either an increase or decrease in biodiversity over pairwise comparisons. However, it is important to note that the remaining seven diversity indices may yield inconsistent or inconclusive results, but only with regard to forest data, highlighting the complexity and nuances of measuring biodiversity with different sorts of data. In this review article, all 17 indices are presented, allowing the reader to choose which ones are most applicable to their particular dataset (genetic, econometric, sociometric, etc.).

Keywords

• biodiversity
• biodiversity indices
• forestry