Q.What is species richness?

[!TLDR] Species richness is the total number of different species present in an area. …

[!ANSWER] Species richness is the number of species present in a given area.

Species richness is one of the two components of species diversity, the other being species evenness (how uniformly individuals are distributed among the species present, i.e. whether the community is dominated by one or two species or has all species represented roughly equally). Species richness on its own does not measure abundance or dominance — it simply counts how many distinct species have been recorded in the area under study, whether that area is a small local plot, an entire ecosystem, or a whole country. …

• Confusing species richness (a simple count of species) with species evenness (how evenly individuals are distributed among those species). …