The formula for calculating beta diversity, specifically pairwise Whittaker beta diversity, involves comparing the species composition between pairs of sites in a community. The pairwise Whittaker beta diversity index is calculated using the following formula:
Where:
This formula calculates the dissimilarity between two communities based on the differences in species composition. It sums the absolute differences in species proportions between corresponding sites in the two communities and divides by 2 to ensure that the index ranges from 0 (complete similarity) to 1 (complete dissimilarity).
Tags:
Bio Statistics