| Species Richness | Number of species counted in a sampling process |
| Strengths and Limitations of species richness | Strengths:
- Total no. of species; large no. indicates higher biodiversity
Limitations:
- No indication of how common a single species is
- Does not consider the evenness of species |
| Relative species abundance/evenness | Number of each species counted in proportion to other species sampled: one species in relation to the total population |
| Strengths and Limitations of species evenness | Strengths:
- Dominance of a species can be identified (how common a species is)
Limitations:
- Does not account for size of individuals (hard to distinguish different species when they're very small)
- No indication of the distribution of a species over the area |
| Percentage Cover | Used to determine the percentage of each quadrat a species occupies. Useful for small organisms, plants and canopy covers. |
| Percentage Frequency | Percentage of quadrats in which a species is found. This is useful since it considers both evenness of a species' distribution, as well as abundance |
| Random Sampling | Process of unbias quadrat throwing |
| Simpson's Diversity Index | Index for calculating biodiversity in an ecosystem - combines all techniques |
