Assessment of diversity indices for the characterization of the soil prokaryotic community by metagenomic analysis

The diversity indices used in ecology for assessing the metagenomes of soil prokaryotic communities at different phylogenetic levels were compared. The following indices were considered: the number of detected taxa and the Shannon, Menhinick, Margalef, Simpson, Chao1, and ACE indices. The diversity analysis of the prokaryotic communities in the upper horizons of a typical chernozem (Haplic Chernozem (Pachic)), a dark chestnut soil (Haplic Kastanozem (Chromic)), and an extremely arid desert soil (Endosalic Calcisol (Yermic)) was based on the analysis of 16S rRNA genes. The Menhinick, Margalef, Chao1, and ACE indices gave similar results for the classification of the communities according to their diversity levels; the Simpson index gave good results only for the high-level taxa (phyla); the best results were obtained with the Shannon index. In general, all the indices used showed a decrease in the diversity of the soil prokaryotes in the following sequence: chernozem > dark chestnut soil > extremely arid desert soil.