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Pi =proportion of the landscape occupied by patch type (class) i. |
| Description | SHDI equals minus the sum, across all patch types, of the proportional abundance of each patch type multiplied by that proportion. Note, Pi is based on total landscape area (A) excluding any internal background present. |
| Units | Information |
| Range | SHDI ≥ 0, without limit SHDI = 0 when the landscape contains only 1 patch (i.e., no diversity). SHDI increases as the number of different patch types (i.e., patch richness, PR) increases and/or the proportional distribution of area among patch types becomes more equitable. |
| Comments | Shannon's diversity index is a popular measure of diversity in community ecology, applied here to landscapes. Shannon's index is somewhat more sensitive to rare patch types than Simpson's diversity index. |
