Each letter in the figure below represents a unique species, and the boxes represent three sites of
similar area.
a) (3 marks) What is species richness alpha diversity in each site?
b) (3 marks) Calculate pairwise beta diversity between each pair of sites: 1-2, 2-3, 1-3.
c) (2 marks) Your objective is to preserve species diversity by preserving land area. If you could only
preserve 1 site, which one should you chose and why?
d) (2 marks) With the same objective, if you could preserve two sites, which two should you choose,
and why?
a)
α-richness site 1 = 3, α-richness site 2 = 5, α-richness site 3 = 7
b)
Pairwise β diversity sites 1-2 = 4, pairwise β diversity sites 2-3 = 10, pairwise β diversity sites
1-3 = 6
c)
If I could only preserve one site, I would choose to preserve site 3 because site 3 as an
individual site has the greatest diversity.
d)
If I could preserve only two sites, I would choose to preserve site 2 and 2 because they have
the greatest species difference between the two sites and therefore collectively they have
the greatest species diversity.
