The shannon wiener index and Simpson indices include the measurement of community heterogeneity.
Shannon wiener index bapplied information theory. The main measuring object of information theory is the content of system order or disorder. Shannon wiener index (Shannon-Weiner index) is used to describe the disorder and uncertainty of individual species. The higher the uncertainty, the higher the diversity. There are two factors in Shannon-Weiner diversity index: (1) number of species, i.e. richness; (2) the average or evenness of individual distribution in the species. A large number of species can increase diversity. Similarly, increasing the uniformity of individual distribution among species will also increase diversity. If each individual belongs to a different species, the diversity index is the largest. If each individual belongs to the same species, its diversity index is the smallest.
I found this answer on research gate where one researcher asked about the difference between shannon and simpson index. But couldn't find reference for it. Can somebody provide insights
Yes I am totally in agreement with Md Mizanur Rahman . With higher species richness, SW index shows largest diversity. Because SW diversity index calculation measures upon the abundance of each species and it considers all species in a community. And this is not like Simpson index which considers just the dominant species. Good luck.
Shannon Wiener index depends on the abundance and Simpson index on the dominance of different species existing in a targeted community. This is a general and simple description, but below you can also check my publication published in 2017. There you may find a better comprehension of the discussed issue.
Both indices account for diversity and evenness of species present. Shannon is the proportion of species relative to the total number of species and then multiplied by the natural logarithm of this proportion. The natural logarithm takes into account an increasing system size. Simpson is the proportion of species relative to the total number of species and squared and then the inverse or reciprocal is taken. The reciprocal changes the proportion (or probability) into 'events'. So both indices are adjusted to be different ways of obtaining the same outcome.
Dear Chandandeep Kaur,
Well, technically, the answer is yes, the Shannon index represents the largest diversity index when the individual belongs to different species. You may find some of the examples and the way of interpretation here-
Article Amphibian assemblages and diversity patterns in two forest e...
If individual belongs to same species the shannon index. Is less... any reference for this? And if a genus belong to same species, can species richness (simpson index) be more for same sample?
Dear Chandandeep Kaur,
For the first question, it is a diversity index, meaning it focuses on how many species present in a given area, not on the population size, individuals of a specific species.
For the second question, I think you meant several species belong to the same genus. If I am correct, then the answer is yes, of course, it will be more.
I hope these answers will help you.
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