Indian Embassy Biodiversity

On another day in AP Bio class, we went to the Indian Embassy and collected a number of species of plants. We tried to collect as many as we could find, since we were going to "use it for something really cool in class".

Okay.

My partner, Lethicia, and I found roughly 16 different species and then, in class, we compared to what the IB biology classes found. There were a total of 193 plants counted and 3524 individuals found. Each team counted the equivalent to about a sixth of a square meter, and we found all of that!

You might still think that this fact solely does not prove that the place is biodiverse. If that is the case, we can simply use the Simpson Index for biodiversity. 

Homer and Marge walked in and took a look at the place. They also said it was pretty biologically diverse.

No, not really. The Simpson Index is a value, from 0 to 1, which determines the level of biodiversity in a region. It is a little counter intuitive, but the greater the biodiversity of a region, the closer to region it will be. It takes into consideration not only the different amount of plants found (193) but also their abundance (3524) Our region had a biodiversity index of 0.095! That is VERY SMALL! It is less than 0.1! 

To find this number, this was the formula I used.

Therefore, the Indian Embassy has lots of biodiversity, since the index was so small. Although, really, if you look at that place, you would never fathom this. Ever.

Which is why the Simpson's index is so cool. It is something that is not hard to determine and extremely basic, since everybody can count up the different plants and their quantity. Also, it helps the comparison between two different places and allows us to determine where we have more biodiversity.