I have three field margin types (grassy/shrubby/tree) and each type have 5 sites. I need to calculate Shannon index for insect counts from each field margin type....
Q1. In my case how should I calculate Shannon index? Should I calculate first for each sites and giving their mean in my table(refer attachment) or neglecting the sites and taking the total count among each field margin types to calculate Shannon index.. Which one will be the perfect?
Q2. And also I need to test the statistical significance of Shannon index between various field margin types.. which test will be best to compare Shannon indices?
Please refer my attached table to get idea of what I need exactly.
Thank you very much
You calculate for each site for variability so that you can do statistical comparisons :)
Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman Thank you. Then can I put the mean of different sites in each field margin types in my table? Will the mean of shannon index is valuable as the original shannaon index calculated as a pooled of each field margin types?
see Measuring biological diversity. Measuring biological diversity
- January 2004 by Anne E. Magurran. it will give worked out examples. also there is a t test for shannon index to compare diversity between sites.
- See attached book by maguran too
You can compare the values of Shannon Information across sites using free software PAST