Pattern Diversity in a Eucalyptus Forest

Abstract

Pattern diversity is a measure of the degree of spatial intermingling of species in a community of sessile organisms, combining the effects of species richness and equitability with those due to spatial patterning. The pattern diversity index was computed for an Australian Eucalyptus forest and the results interpreted in the light of an earlier analysis of the pattern of component species. The pattern diversity index was found to be sensitive to the number of individuals sampled at each point, reflecting a dependence of the index on the scale of species pattern, and hence on the scale of sampling. Limitations of the method in relation to low sample sizes and to particularly diverse samples are also discussed.