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Dexter S. Ontoy

  • Biodiversity Journal, 5 (3): 387-390

    Dexter S. Ontoy & Roberto N. Padua
    Measuring species diversity for conservation biology: incorporating social and ecological importance of species

    ABSTRACT
    A new Importance-Diversity Index is proposed as an enhancement to the traditional Shannon diversity index. The proposed index incorporates an importance weight to each species of organisms found in an ecosystem. The importance weights are derived from four (4) main domains deemed important in conservation biology, namely: (1) species endemicity, (2) economic utility, (3) functional role in the ecosystem, and (4) risk status of the species (threatened or endangered). Scenario simulations show that the new index aids in conservation decisions particularly in cases where the Shannon’s indices of the ecosystems are equal or near equal or even in situations where the Shannon’s index clearly identifies a site but the relative importance of the species found in other sites is heavier.