What is True of the Shannon Diversity Index? Select All

Question

What is true of the Shannon diversity index? Select all that apply.
A) Within a community,Its value increases as the number of species sampled increases.
B) Its value is independent of species relative abundance.
C) It does not take into account very rare species.
D) Its value increases when individuals are more evenly distributed among species.

Accepted Answer

The Shannon diversity index measures the diversity of a community, taking into account both the number of species and the relative abundance of each species. Therefore, as the number of species sampled increases, the diversity index also increases (choice A). Additionally, the index also takes into account the evenness or distribution of individuals among the different species, so a more even distribution of individuals among species will result in a higher diversity index value (choice D). However, the index does not account for extremely rare species, so choice C is incorrect. Finally, choice B is incorrect because the index specifically takes into account species relative abundance, which is used to calculate the diversity value.