Why is species evenness important?

The percentage of species or functional groups on a site is called evenness. A site with low evenness is dominated by a small number of species. The more equal species are in relation to each other, the greater the evenness of the site.

A community is said to have low evenness if there is a significant variation in the number of individuals within each species, and high evenness if the number of individuals within a species is relatively constant throughout the community.

The similarity of each species' population size is compared using evenness.

Species evenness is important because it provides insights into the balance or distribution of different species within an ecosystem. It indicates how evenly or unevenly individuals are distributed among species in a community. High species evenness suggests a balanced and resilient ecosystem, where various species have similar abundances, making the ecosystem less vulnerable to disturbances and more stable over time. In contrast, low species evenness may indicate dominance by a few species, which can lead to reduced biodiversity and potentially destabilize the ecosystem. Thus, monitoring species evenness is crucial for understanding ecosystem health, resilience, and functioning.