Species Diversity Lab

Name: ______Period: ______Species Diversity Lab ~ a study of the parking lot life zone ~

OBJECTIVE To develop an understanding of the Shannon-Weiner diversity index as well as the concept of species richness. Both will be used as tools for quantifying biodiversity and assessing human impacts on the environment.

BACKGROUND

Vocabulary • biodiversity is the population heterogeneity of a community, or the number of species in a given area • species diversity is a combination of species richness and species evenness - species richness - species evenness is the relative distribution of individuals among the species present in a community. o Evenness constrasts with dominance, and is maximized when all species have the same number of individuals

The diversity of species present in an ecosystem can be used as one gauge of the health of an ecosystem. Species richness is a measure of the number of different species present in an ecosystem, while species evenness measures the relative abundance of the various populations present in an ecosystem. In an ecological survey designed to measure species diversity, a wildlife biologist might determine the number of individuals of each species present in an area, and then calculate a "diversity index" for the area. Comparison of the diversity index with that of other areas provides insights into the species diversity and the health of the ecosystem.

When pollution is present or human disturbance has occurred in a community, biodiversity is typically lower than in an undisturbed community. Maintaining biodiversity is important for a variety of reasons including: • the potential for new medicines and crops that are found in screening many species, • the genetic variation the is the “raw material” necessary to continue selective breeding of crops • resilience from perturbation (changes in ecosystem) • the aesthetic value of diverse communities.

In this activity your "ecosystem" will be the school parking lot, and the "species" will be the different car colors. As a class, we will be comparing the species diversity of the baseball and Theater parking lots. We will use three indices of diversity to measure species diversity.

Species Richness (R)

The species richness is based solely on the number of species found in the given area and does not reflect the relative dominance of each species.

R = species richness s= # of species The Shannon Diversity Index (H). This index is determined by both the number of species and the even distribution of individuals among those species (relative dominance). It indicates the degree of uncertainty of predicting the species of a given individual picked at random from the community. If the diversity is high, you have a poor chance of correctly predicting the species of the next individual picked at random. A rich ecosystem with high species diversity has a large value for the Shannon Diversity Index (H'), while an ecosystem with little diversity has a low H'. You can use a calculator for these equations.

Equation 1: Equation 2:

ni = number of individuals of species "i" N = total number of individuals of all species pi = relative abundance of species "i" (see equation 1) S = total number of species H' = The Shannon Diversity Index (see equation 2)

Species Evenness (E)

Using species richness ® and the Shannon-Weiner index (H), you can compute a measure of evenness. Evenness (E) is a measure of how similar the abundance of different species are. When there are similar proportions of all species then evenness is equal to 1, but when the abundances are dissimilar (some are rare and some are dominant) then the value increases.

E = H/ln(R)

Pre-lab Questions— Write out and answer the following question

1. Use the data table below and calculate the Species Richness (R), Shannon-Weiner index (H), and Species Evenness (E) for a hypothetical tide pool.

Species i ni pi ln (pi) Pi (ln (pi)) Sea Anemone 1 22 (Anthopleura sp.) Bat star 2 13 (Patiria sp.) Lobster 3 7 (Panulirus sp.) Sea hare 4 16 (Aplysia sp.)

2. Identify which parking lot you expect to be the most diverse, and defend your choice. ______

______(You will be provided with this data table to staple into your lab book)

Observations of Baseball parking lot:

Observations of Theater parking lot:

Table 1: Data collected for Color in the Baseball parking lot.

Species i ni pi ln(pi) pi (ln(pi)) EX: Black 3 3/50= .06 -2.81 -.17 Red/Maroon/Pink 1 Black 2 Silver/Grey 3 Champagne/Tan/Gold 4 White 5 Blue 6 Green/Teal 7 Yellow 8 Orange 9 Purple 10 Brown 11 TOTALS N = R = This column H’ = E = should add up to 1.0

Table 2: Data collected for Color in the Theater parking lot.

Species i ni pi ln(pi) pi (ln(pi)) Red/Maroon/Pink 1 Black 2 Silver/Grey 3 Champagne/Tan/Gold 4 White 5 Blue 6 Green/Teal 7 Yellow 8 Orange 9 Purple 10 Brown 11 TOTALS N = R = H’= E = Data Analysis: 1. Determine the value for Species Richness, Shannon-Weiner Index and Species Evenness for the data collected by your group. Show all of your work (each person needs a calculation sheet which you will be handing in with your post lab questions)

2. Tabulate the values calculated by your group and the other groups in class for the three indices.

3. How consistent are the three indices for each group for the Baseball parking lot and the Theater parking lot?

Post-lab Questions

1. Identify the parking lot that was the most diverse. Based on your observations during the lab, explain why your prediction in question #1 of the pre-lab was supported or not supported.

2. List the single most abundant species in each set of data, and write a plausible explanation to explain why these are the most abundant species.

3. List and elaborate on any sources of error that may have affected your lab results.

3. Which parking lot ecosystem demonstrates a higher degree of ecological stability? Explain.

4. If you conducted this lab in a shopping mall parking lot, predict whether the Shannon Diversity Index would be high or low, and how it would compare to the school parking lots.

5. What is the importance of species diversity? What if there was a “disease” that killed off all of the Silver/Grey, Black, and White Cars? What might happen to the rest of the population?

Write a conclusion/reflection for this lab following the format from “APES Lab Write Up Requirements”.

Sources: 1.http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/bbodas/Shannon%20Diversity%20Index%20Lab%20(car%20lab)%2007.pdf 2. http://members.cox.net/bennowak/environment/envla/schyardecol.htm 3.http://www.fairchildgarden.org/uploads/docs/Education/Downloadable_teaching_modules/Environmental _Action/Parking_Lot_Diversity_Activity.pdf 4. berkmarapes.wikispaces.com/file/.../Parking+Lot+Species+Diversity.doc