Biodiversity in a Florida Sandhill Ecosystem

This project compares two transects of land in the University of South Florida's Botanical Gardens for their biodiversity. The transects were chosen to represent a Florida sandhill ecosystem and the individual <em>Longleaf Pine</em>, <em>Saw Palmetto</em>, <em>Turk...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Samantha Robertson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of South Florida 2009-01-01
Series:Undergraduate Journal of Mathematical Modeling: One + Two
Subjects:
Online Access:http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/ujmm/vol2/iss1/6
Description
Summary:This project compares two transects of land in the University of South Florida's Botanical Gardens for their biodiversity. The transects were chosen to represent a Florida sandhill ecosystem and the individual <em>Longleaf Pine</em>, <em>Saw Palmetto</em>, <em>Turkey Oak</em>, <em>Laurel Oak</em> and <em>Live Oak</em> specimens were counted. All other species above waist height were counted as "other"?. Once the individuals were counted, the Simpson's and Shannon-Wiener indices were calculated. Since the Shannon-Wiener index incorporates several diversity characteristics, it is typically more reliable than Simpson's. However, both biodiversity indices agreed that transect B was more diverse than transect A.
ISSN:2326-3652