BIOLAB NOTES: DICHOTOMOUS KEYS, BIODIVERSITY INDEX, & MEASURES OF DIVERSITY

LAB 7: DICHOTOMOUS KEYS

 Dichotomous Key
o can be used to easily identify unknown organisms
o word dichotomous comes from two Greek words that together mean, "divided in two parts"
 A dichotomous key consists of a series of two-part statements, known as couplet, that describe
characteristics of organisms
 A dichotomous key is a series of statements or characteristics that can be used to identify an
organism
 A dichotomous key is a biological device (tool) that enables one to identify an organism by
progressively opting between two alternative observable characteristics

RULES USED TO CONSTRUCT A DICHOTOMOUS KEY

1. Use morphological characteristics as far as possible e.g. type of leaf - simple or compound
2. Select a single characteristic at a time and identify it by number
3. Use parallel statements for two contrasting traits
4. Start with a major characteristic that divide the organisms into two large groups then proceed to
lesser variations that would separate the organisms further into smaller groups
5. Use positive statements especially the first one
6. Avoid generalizations e.g. short plants. Be specific in your description

ANIMALS
 Type of mouthparts
 Type of skeleton
 Presence or absence of antennae
 Body segmentation
 Body covering
o Scales
o Fur
o Hair
o Feathers
o Shell
 Number of body parts
 Locomotory structures
o Legs
o Wings
o Fins
 Presence or absence of vertebral column
LEAVES
 Complexity
o Simple leaf
o Compound leaf
 Leaf margin
 Leaf tip and apex
 Leaf shape
 Type of venation
 Type of leaf arrangement on stem
 Leaf color
 Leaf texture
o Hairy
o Smooth

STEM
 Type of stem
o Woody
o Herbaceous
 Stem shape
o Cylindrical
o Rectangular
 Stem shape
o Smooth
o Spiny

INFLORESCENCE (FLOWER CLUSTERS)

 Flower position
o Terminal
o Lateral
 Flower type
o Regular
o Irregular
 Flower parts
o Free
o Fused

ROOTS
 Type of root system
o Tap
o Fibrous
LAB 8: BIODIVERSITY INDEX

 Determining the biodiversity of an area is one of the most critical tasks in studying biodiversity
o ‘taxonomic diversity’
o number of different kinds or types of organisms in an area
 further simplified to ‘species diversity’
 number of unique species in an area
 Species diversity is the most basic way at looking at biodiversity
o if a particular area for example has 10,000 individual plants but all of them belong to the same
species, then it is arguably less diverse than an area with only 1,000 plants but belonging to 100
different species
 It is a biological fact that closely-related species usually share very similar ecological niches
 The most basic method of measuring biodiversity is the raw species count
o merely counting the number of species in an area
o not an absolute measure
 microscopic organisms are usually overlooked when doing these counts
 measures of biodiversity are weak and not very useful on their own
o where they shine is when two or more areas are being compared
 More powerful measures of biodiversity involve not just counting the number of taxa in an
area, but also the number of each respective taxon
 The basic measurements of biodiversity are referred to as species richness, and species evenness
 Species richness
o refers to the number of species in an area
 does not account for the abundance of each species
 Species evenness
o accounting for the abundances in species
 Diversity Index
o Combining the two concepts results in this
 These diversity indices are complex mathematical formulae that are more accurate measures
of the biodiversity of an area

LAB 9: MEASURES OF DIVERSITY

 Taxonomic indexes
o take into account the taxonomic relation between different organisms in a community
 Taxonomic diversity
o reflects average taxonomic distance between two organisms, chosen at random from a sample
 distance can be seen as the length of the path connecting these two organisms along the
branches of a phylogenetic tree
 Alpha-diversity
o refers to diversity within a particular area, community or ecosystem, and is usually measured by
counting the number of taxa within the ecosystem (usually species level)
 several indices in measuring species biodiversity include Simpson Index and the Shannon
Index, which focus on relative species richness and abundance and/or the pattern of species
distribution
 Simpson Index
o a measure of diversity which takes into account the number of species present and their relative
abundance in proportion to the total population
o as species richness and evenness increase, so diversity increases
o value of D ranges between 0 and 1
 with this index, 1 represents infinite diversity and 0, no diversity
 0.7 and above = high diversity
 0.3-0.7 = average diversity
 0.3 and below = low diversity

 Shannon Index
o accounts for the order or abundance of a species within a sample plot
o often used for identifying areas of high natural or human disturbance
 1.5 – 3.5 = common
 1.5 – 2.0 = average
 2 and above = high

 Comparison of ecosystems in determining changes over time in a given region are utilized in
determining measures of biodiversity in an ecosystem level
 Beta-diversity
o describing changes in biodiversity within or between ecosystems
o indicates the difference and variation in species richness between two different habitats or within
a single community at different points in time
o involves comparing the number of taxa that are unique to each of the ecosystems
 Gamma-diversity
o on an even larger scale, measurement of the overall or total biodiversity for the different
ecosystems within a region
o also termed as the “geographic-scale species diversity”
o pertains to landscape diversity of habitats within a landscape or region
 Keystone species
o another indicator of biodiversity which researchers often track and measure
o integral to ecosystem processes