The degree to which abundances are divided equitably among community species or evenness is a basic property of any biological community. Several evenness indices have been proposed to summarize community structure. However, despite their potential applicability in ecological research, none seems to be generally preferred. In this paper we show that, unlike other evenness indices without any clear information-theoretical meaning, Hill's parametric diversity measure E-alpha,E-0 has an immediate relation to Renyi's generalized information. Therefore, E-alpha,E-0 might be adequate for summarizing community structure within the context of a general theoretical framework of diversity analysis based on information theory.
On the information-theoretical meaning of Hill's parametric evenness / Ricotta, Carlo; Avena, Giancarlo. - In: ACTA BIOTHEORETICA. - ISSN 0001-5342. - STAMPA. - 50:1(2002), pp. 63-71. [10.1023/a:1014717428386]
On the information-theoretical meaning of Hill's parametric evenness
RICOTTA, Carlo;AVENA, Giancarlo
2002
Abstract
The degree to which abundances are divided equitably among community species or evenness is a basic property of any biological community. Several evenness indices have been proposed to summarize community structure. However, despite their potential applicability in ecological research, none seems to be generally preferred. In this paper we show that, unlike other evenness indices without any clear information-theoretical meaning, Hill's parametric diversity measure E-alpha,E-0 has an immediate relation to Renyi's generalized information. Therefore, E-alpha,E-0 might be adequate for summarizing community structure within the context of a general theoretical framework of diversity analysis based on information theory.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
