A New Species Richness Measure Improved From Margalef And Menhinick Indices

In the present study, a new estimator ( (_ ^ (α^*) ) DMM) is proposed to measure species richness. Its’ essential inputs are alfa (α) scale parameters of Margalef (DMG) and Menhinick (DMN) indices. To evaluate the performance of (_ ^ (α^*) ) DMM, both hypothetical and natural community datasets were used. The computations were performed using a spreadsheet program created for (_ ^ (α^*) ) DMM. The new proposed estimator is also integrated into the BİÇEB software. According to estimation results, (_ ^ (α^*) ) DMM seems to be a better form rather than DMG and DMN. Therefore it may be employed for comparing species richness of the natural communities. To better understand the performance of (_ ^ (α^*) ) DMM, further studies should be generated using various types of real ecological data.