A Comparison of Some Species‐Individuals Diversity Indices Applied to Samples of Field Insects

A comparison was made of several cumulative species/cumulative individuals indices using a statistical distribution corresponding to the species of insects in a sample from the herb stratum of a lespedeza field. Criteria used in comparison were that the indices be intensive for a given universe regardless of sample size and that the indices differentiate between universes having different numbers of species for a given number of individuals. Species/log individuals, species–1/natural log of individuals, log species/log individuals, and species/square root of individuals were examined. Only the index of species/square root of individual met both of the criteria.