Species Richness (AQA A Level Biology)

Revision Note

Test yourself
Lára

Author

Lára

Last updated

Species Richness

  • Species richness is the number of species within a community
    • A community is a group of populations of different species living in the same place at the same time that interact with each other

  • Species richness is the simplest way to measure species diversity
  • A community with a greater number of species will have a greater species richness score
    • For example, a tropical rain forest has a very high number of different species so it would be described as species-rich

  • Species richness can be a misleading indicator of diversity as it does not take into account the number of individuals of each species
    • For example, habitat A has 10 different plant species and habitat B has 7 different plant species
    • Habitat A would be described as being more species-rich than habitat B
    • However, in habitat A there is only one individual of each plant species present (10 individuals present) while in habitat B there are over 20 individuals of each species present (over 140 individuals present)
    • This example illustrates the limitations of species richness

  • Conservationists often favour the use of an index of diversity as it takes into account species number and evenness

You've read 0 of your 10 free revision notes

Unlock more, it's free!

Join the 100,000+ Students that ❤️ Save My Exams

the (exam) results speak for themselves:

Did this page help you?

Lára

Author: Lára

Expertise: Biology Lead

Lára graduated from Oxford University in Biological Sciences and has now been a science tutor working in the UK for several years. Lára has a particular interest in the area of infectious disease and epidemiology, and enjoys creating original educational materials that develop confidence and facilitate learning.