Which bio-diversity indices are most adequate

Abstract

One of the main objectives of ecology is to analyze, maintain, and enhance the bio-diversity of different ecosystems. To be able to do that, we need to gauge bio-diversity. Several semi-heuristic diversity indices have been shown to be in good accordance with the intuitive notion of bio-diversity. In this paper, we provide a theoretical justification for these empirically successful techniques. Specifically, we show that the most widely used techniques - Simpson index - can be justified by using simple fuzzy rules, while a more elaborate justification explains all empirically successful diversity indices.