Abstract

The community diversity indices commonly used are based on the assumption that biological diversity can be satisfactorily described by two major components, viz. the number of species and their relative abundance. These indices treat all species as equivalent and ignore taxonomic or genetic differences among species of a community. However, two biological communities with similar numbers and frequencies of species could differ, for instance, with respect to the taxonomic diversity of the constituent species. In the present study Pielou's (1975) Hierarchical Diversity Index (formalized as a version of the Shannon index) is used to estimate 3 taxonomic levels of diversity (family, species and genus) in the Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary, Trivandrum, Kerala (India) . A total of 21 quadrats of 0. 1 ha (2. 1 ha sample) were laid out in different forest types. Some 151 tree species belonging to 52 families were recorded out of the 9 forest types