Spider Communities Level 2

Level 2: Classifying the species from multiple locations or ecosystems and comparing them. This helps scientists make decisions about which ecosystems to prioritize in their conservation efforts.

In this step, scientists would analyze the species found in other ecosystems. They would sample several other patches of forest (Sites 2 - 5) and count how many individuals of each species were found in these sites. They would then compare which species were similar to those found at their first sampling site (Site 1) and which species were new to the additional sampling sites (Sites - 5). They would calculate a biodiversity index for each of the forest patches, based on the number of spider species found in each. Scientists could then compare the biodiversity index from each site to determine areas of high and low biodiversity.





Source: http://cnx.org/content/m12179/latest/ (CC BY)