The diversity of dung beetle species was investigated at two grassland sites in North America.
Dung beetles feed on animal faeces (dung).
The first grassland site was grazed by cattle and the second grassland site was not grazed by cattle. The areas of the two grassland sites were the same.
At each grassland site, dung beetles were collected, identified and counted.
The results are shown in Table 1.
Table 1
dung beetle species |
number of dung beetles on grassland grazed by cattle |
number of dung beetles on grassland not grazed by cattle |
A |
4267 |
6641 |
B |
2005 |
774 |
C |
353 |
108 |
D |
218 |
85 |
total |
6843 |
7608 |
(i)
Simpson’s index of diversity (D) for the dung beetles on the grassland site grazed by cattle was calculated as 0.522, using the formula:
Key to symbols:
n = number of individuals of each species present in the sample
N = the total number of all individuals of all species present in the sample
Calculate Simpson’s index of diversity (D) for the dung beetles on the grassland site that was not grazed by cattle.
Complete Table 2 to show your working.
Write your final answer to three decimal places.
Table 2
dung beetle species |
number of dung beetles on grassland not grazed by cattle |
|
|
A |
6641 |
|
|
B |
774 |
|
|
C |
108 |
|
|
D |
85 |
|
|
total |
7608 |
|
|
[3]
(ii)
Describe what the results in Table 1 and both figures for Simpson’s index of diversity show about the effect of grazing by cattle on the diversity of dung beetles.
[2]