Structure comparison and evenness test of biological communities: Several platform-independent computational tools

Abstract

The comparison of structural difference between biological communities and the evenness or diversity test of biological communities are always the focus in community studies. In present study, two computational tools were developed to conduct non-parametric statistical tests of between-community structural difference, among which a tool is for multi-samples comparison and the other is for single-sample comparison. Various distance measures are available for user’s choice. Two computational tools were developed to test community evenness and one tool was based on the randomization test proposed in present study and the other was based on Ewens-Caswell neutrality model. The computational tools include both online and offline versions and can be used on various computing devices (PCs, iPads, smartphones, etc.), operating systems (Windows, Mac, Android, Harmony, etc.) and web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, etc). They can be used in the sciences as ecology and biology, etc.

Keywords

• community structure
• species composition
• community evenness
• ewens-caswell neutrality model
• non-parametric test