Concentration Curves and Have-Statistics for Ecological Analysis of Diversity: Part III: Comparisons of Measures of Diversity

Goodwin, D.G. & Vaupel, J.W. (1985). Concentration Curves and Have-Statistics for Ecological Analysis of Diversity: Part III: Comparisons of Measures of Diversity. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-85-091

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Abstract

Given the central importance of diversity in ecology and the life sciences more generally, it is not surprising that a variety of methods and measures have been developed to describe and summarize diversity. In the two previous parts of this series of papers, comparisons were drawn between concentration curves and frequency distributions, the most widely used graphical display of variation, and between concentration curves and dominance-diversity curves. This final part of the three paper series compares various statistics that might be used to summarize diversity, with a focus on the usefulness of have-statistics as a supplement to more traditional measures. The first section of our discussion lays out some reasonable criteria and principles that good measures of diversity should satisfy: some traditional measures violate at least one of the criteria; the have-statistics pass the hurdles and have some desirable properties in addition. We then illustrate the use of different measures by way of examples drawn from Howard's studies of bullfrogs (discussed in Part I), the study of species diversity among diatoms (discussed in Part II), an analysis of mating systems of various birds, and a survey of human fertility in 41 countries.

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