If yes, I would appreciate any salient references
Phillip Nkunika
The index was first aplied with biological data to operate with each species proportion in the total abundance of organisms, you could even apply it with data at family level, but someone will critisize you surely.
some references:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity_index
You can employ this index applying to specie, genus or family level without problems
, but if you desire to compare you must only compare in the same level
I agree with Daniel and Jose in the way you can use Shannon indexes
https://www.academia.edu/12697702/Structure_of_ground_mesofauna_of_Kryvyi_Rih_Iron_Ore_Basin
at the family level, at the morpho-ecological and trophic grour
Well. It can be applied up to species level in different ecosystems
Yes, then you get family diversity, of course. You can use it for growth forms, adaptive strategies, etc. It is, after all, just a number calculated by a particular index. Fist applied to telephone transmissions, I believe.
this index is not appropriate to use the only comparison of the reference community and its derivatives in the presence of invasion or introduction. this index is not appropriate to use only comparison of the reference community and its derivatives in the presence of invasion or introduction. in all other cases it is very nice to reflect diversity at the appropriate level research.
Do you want to use the index to compare diversity of families within superorders (e.g. classes)? I would only take Shannon-Wiener-Index for such "across-analysis" if sample sizes are comparable. Simpson-Index e.g. has proved to be more reliable for variable sample sizes.
For setails see Magurran A.E. (2004). Measuring biological diversity. Blackwell.
Can Shannon and Simpson indexes be used for microbiota rather than for determining the diversity/abundance of the complete microbiome.
Elaborating, can we use these indices to determine diversity/abundance of 2 microorganisms at different skin sites (e.g. stomach, neck and hand) rather than determining the complete microbial composition at the 3 skin sites and then determining the Shannon and Simpson indices for 2 selected micro organisms?
Apologies for posting as an answer, but this seems a perfect group to solve my query.