If I have one with 35 families and one with 16..would the species richness just be the number of families?
2007-10-19 13:36:32 · 2 answers · asked by thatsme:) 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
Species richness is simply a count of the number of different species in a given area it is not the number of species belonging to an individual animal family.
Species richness is a measure of biodiversity.
2007-10-19 14:28:23 · answer #1 · answered by Roisin F 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No - not unless each family has the same number of species. Each family contains different sub-groups which we call genera (plural of genus) and each genus contains one or more species. It's quite possible to think of a situation where you could have many families represented by only a few species, and vice-versa.
2007-10-19 21:33:25 · answer #2 · answered by John R 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋