Species richness

Species richness is the number of different species represented in an ecological community, landscape or region.^[1] Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the abundances of the species or their relative abundance distributions. Species richness is sometimes considered synonymous with species diversity, but the formal metric species diversity takes into account both species richness and species evenness. Species richness has proven to be a positive representation to show how species interaction in ecosystems can lead to the productivity and growth of biodiversity. ^[2]

Biodiversity is an imperative factor used to connect both species richness and species evenness to detect relatedness where genetics, relative species abundances and ecological distributions is concerned. The higher biodiversity there is within an ecosystem, the higher the chances are that species richness will be prevalent with respects to the ecosystem's relative abundance levels. Species richness across different parts of the world will show variations based on location, climate, predator/prey relationship, food availability and other factors that lies in the throes of environmental influences. The image below shows a representation of an aquatic relationship among members of the same community. Competition for food, mating spaces, and overall predator or prey relationship can also arise. An abundance in the number of species will present itself where habitats are relatively available for species to live, where competition and predators are not actively seeking to lower their abundance levels.^[3]