There are three spatial scales to measure biodiversity: α diversity, β diversity and γ diversity. Alpha diversity is mainly concentrated in the number of species in local homogeneous habitats, so it is also called biological diversity. β diversity refers to the heterogeneity of species composition or the replacement rate of species along the environmental gradient between different habitat communities, also known as inter-habitat diversity. The main ecological factors controlling β diversity are soil, topography and interference. Gamma diversity describes the diversity on the regional or continental scale, and refers to the number of species on the regional or continental scale, also known as regional diversity. The ecological processes controlling γ diversity are mainly hydrothermal dynamics, climate and the history of species formation and evolution.

α diversity

Shannon-Weiner index: H=-

Pielou index (evenness index): e = h/ins.

Simpson index (dominance index): D= 1-

Among them, Ni is the number of individuals of species I, and n is the number of individuals of all species in the community. S is the number of species, and Pi is the proportion of individuals belonging to species I among all individuals.

β diversity

Sorensen index:

Jaccard index:

Cody index:

A and B are the number of species in the two communities, C is the number of species shared by the two communities, g(H) is the number of species increased along the habitat gradient H, and l(H) is the number of species lost along the habitat gradient H.

Sorensen index and Jaccard index reflect the similarity of species between communities or quadrats. Cody index reflects the substitution rate of quadrat species composition along the environmental gradient.

γ diversity

The main indicator is the number of species.

There are two distribution models for determining γ difference along uplift gradient: oblique front distribution and significant negative correlation model.