I. Angle Gauge 1. Sum of all basal areas 3. For all spp. MEAN AREA D 2 3. D 2 B. For individual sp.
Communities vary in species diversity and species richness.
Richness alone is not a satisfactory measure of diversity, however. Thus, a number of indices have been developed which allow community analysis of not only the number of species present, but also their evenness. Below, a variety of techniques are described to sample and measure the understory. Plot cumulative number of species against increasing area and calculate a best fit linear regression for the line. The slope of this line can be compared among communities.