Round 9: Tossup 16

A hypothesis for how herbivores and pathogens affect levels of this quantity in forests was proposed by Janzen and Connell. A measure of this quantity is given by [read slowly] “one minus the sum of little n times little n minus one, over big N times big N minus one.” Measures for this quantity named for Simpson and Shannon (10[1])consider both (10[1])evenness and richness. A “latitudinal (10[1])gradient” describes how this biological (10[1])quantity increases near the tropics. (10[2])Regions with high values for this quantity that are threatened by human habitation (10[1])are known as its “hotspots” and include the Amazon Rainforest. For 10 points, name this quantity that measures the variability of species in a region. ■END■

ANSWER: biodiversity [accept biodiversity hotspots; accept latitudinal diversity gradient; accept Simpson diversity index or Gini–Simpson diversity index or Gini’s diversity index or Shannon diversity index; prompt on species evenness until read by asking “can you be less specific?”; prompt on species richness until read by asking “can you be less specific?”; prompt on Gini impurity by asking “what quantity does that measure?”]
<Editors, Biology> | Packet I
= Average correct buzz position

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