Phylogenetic analysis of a polyphyletic African genus of Caesalpinioideae (Leguminosae): Monopetalanthus Harms

 To assess the new taxonomy of Monopetalanthus proposed by Wieringa, a phylogenetic study was performed using the chloroplast trnL intron and psbA-trnH spacer, and the nuclear ITS region of the 18-26S rDNA. The phylogeny clearly indicates the polyphyletic nature of Monopetalanthus. The molecular data support the transfer of M. longiracemosus to Tetraberlinia and the newly defined Aphanocalyx, which now includes all the previous Monopetalanthus species having leaflets with a marginal vein. Our analyses do not support the monophyly of the newly described genus Bikinia, which includes four new species and six species transferred from Monopetalanthus. Bikinia occurs either as paraphyletic with Tetraberlinia (chloroplast DNA data) or as a monophyletic group that also includes the new monotypic genus Icuria sister to Tetraberlinia (ITS data). Nonetheless, the molecular phylogeny generally supports the taxonomy of Wieringa in subdividing the genus Monopetalanthus into distinct groups, none of which retains the name Monopetalanthus. Received May 28, 2001; accepted July 6, 2002 Published online: November 20, 2002 Address of the authors: G. Y. Fannie Gervais, Anne Bruneau (e-mail: bruneaua@irbv.umontreal. ca), Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale, Université de Montréal, 4101 Sherbrooke est, Montréal, Québec, Canada, H1X2B2.     

Mate choice in modern societies

Most research on mate choice in modern societies is based on data that may or may not reflect actual mating behavior (e.g., stated preferences, personal advertisements). In the present study, real-life matings were reported by a large representative sample of men and women (N = 1,133). These data were used to test an evolutionary model in which mate choice is hypothesized to depend on resources potentially contributed to reproduction by each sex. Consistent with the model, it was found that (a) men (but not women) of higher social status acquire more mating partners, suggesting that male status is an important criterion in female choice; (b) women’s (but not men’s) number of partners decreases linearly with age, suggesting that female reproductive potential is an important criterion in male choice; and (c) women (but not men) display a significant relationship between marital dissolution and promiscuity, suggesting that female sexual exclusivity is an important criterion in male choice. These results are discussed in relation to understanding mate choice mechanisms from behavioral data. Daniel Pérusse is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Université de Montréal. His research interests include the evolutionary biology of human social and reproductive behavior, sexual selection theory, and biocultural evolution. His current research bears on human socialization processes and psychosocial development from an evolutionary and behavior-genetic perspective. Recent publications include “Cultural and Reproductive Success in Industrial Societies: Testing the Relationship at the Proximate and Ultimate Levels” (Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16(2):267–322, 1993) and “Human Parental Behavior: Evidence for Genetic Influence and Potential Implications for Gene-Culture Theory” with M. C. Neale, A. Heath, and L. J. Eaves (Behavior Genetics, in press).     

澜沧江流域水生昆虫群落分类多样性和功能多样性海拔格局的空间尺度依赖性

群落分类多样性和功能多样性的海拔格局研究, 是了解生物多样性空间分布现状、揭示多样性维持和变化机制的重要途径。当前对水生昆虫分类多样性和功能多样性沿海拔梯度分布格局, 及其尺度依赖性依旧缺乏深入研究。本文基于2013-2018年在云南澜沧江流域500-3,900 m海拔梯度共149个溪流点位的水生昆虫群落调查数据, 利用线性或二次回归模型探索并比较了局部尺度(点位尺度)和不同区域尺度(100 m、150 m、200 m、250 m海拔段)的分类多样性指数(物种丰富度指数、Simpson多样性指数和物种均匀度指数)和功能多样性指数(树状图功能多样性指数(dbFD)、Rao二次熵指数(RaoQ)和功能均匀度指数(FEve))的海拔格局。结果表明, 在局部尺度, 物种丰富度指数和dbFD指数沿海拔梯度均无显著分布特征, Simpson多样性指数、RaoQ指数、物种均匀度指数和FEve指数沿海拔梯度呈现U型或者单调递减趋势。在区域尺度, 随着区域海拔带宽度的增加, 物种丰富度指数沿海拔呈不显著的单调递减格局, 但dbFD指数沿海拔分布由U型转变为单调递减趋势; Simpson多样性指数和RaoQ指数沿海拔梯度由显著U型趋势转变为无显著分布特征; 物种均匀度指数沿海拔梯度无显著分布特征, 但FEve指数呈显著增加的海拔格局。综上, 群落分类多样性指数和功能多样性指数沿海拔梯度分布存在局部和区域尺度的空间差异, 但区域尺度下二者海拔格局随海拔带宽度的增加存在一定程度的一致性。     

On the relationship between Pielou’s evenness and landscape dominance within the context of Hill’s diversity profiles

Entropy-related biodiversity indices deriving their conceptual basis from Shannon’s information theory have a long history of use in ecology for quantifying community structure and diversity. In addition, in the last two decades, numerous information–theoretical indices, such as the landscape dominance index, have been extensively applied to characterize landscape diversity in space and time. In this contribution, we offer a simple analytical relation between Pielou’s evenness J and landscape dominance D within the broader context of Hill’s parametric diversity family. Within this context, we recommend the use of Hill’s diversity number evenness E_1,0 to overcome the shortcomings both of Pielou’s evenness J and the landscape dominance index D.     

Effect of lead acetate on the susceptibility of rats to bacterial endotoxins

Selye, H. (Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada), B. Tuchweber, and L. Bertók. Effect of lead acetate on susceptibility of rats to bacterial endotoxins. J. Bacteriol. 91:884-890. 1966.-A single, normally well-tolerated, intravenous injection of lead acetate increases the sensitivity of the rat to the endotoxins of various gram-negative bacteria about 100,000 times above normal. Under the conditions of these experiments, the mortality and organ changes normally produced by the intravenous injection of 100 mug of Escherichia coli endotoxin were essentially the same as those obtained by use of 1 nanogram in lead-sensitized rats. The sensitizing effect of lead acetate for E. coli endotoxin is greatest when the two agents are given simultaneously. However, considerable sensitization is still detectable when endotoxin is injected up to 1 hr before or 7 hr after sensitization with lead. No sensitization was noted when the endotoxin was administered 24 hr before or after lead acetate. Under our experimental conditions, the minimal dose of lead acetate which could still induce significant sensitization to E. coli endotoxin was 1 mg per 100 g of body weight. Although lead acetate induces a high degree of susceptibility to various endotoxins, other reticuloendothelial blocking agents did not acquire unusual toxicity after pretreatment with lead. Finally, none of the other metals or reticuloendothelial blocking agents tested could duplicate the pronounced decrease in endotoxin resistance induced by lead acetate.     

DER: An algorithm for comparing species diversity between assemblages

There is no single diversity index that adequately summarises species diversity, since this is a multidimensional concept and hence should be quantified using a compound statistical measure. Here, we present the DER algorithm, available as an R package on CRAN and as an RWizard application on http://www.ipez.es/RWizard. This algorithm provides tools for differentiating assemblages on the basis of five compounds of diversity: rarity, heterogeneity, evenness, taxonomic/phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity. For all the samples, the algorithm calculates a total of 39 of the indices most often used. All indices of all samples are transformed to a scale range of between 0 and 1, and the algorithm calculates the polar coordinates of all samples with all possible combinations for all five groups of indices. Thus, for each combination, an index of rarity, heterogeneity (species richness is included in this group), evenness, taxonomic/phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity is used for each group to calculate the polar coordinates of all samples. When the polar coordinates of the samples are obtained for each combination, the convex hull and the mean Euclidean distance between samples are calculated. The algorithm selects the combination of indices with the highest value of the mean between convex hull and mean Euclidean distance between samples; priority is therefore given to maximising dispersion between the samples. The polar coordinates of the selected combination are depicted using a diagram from which it is possible to determine the differences in terms of rarity, heterogeneity, evenness, taxonomic/phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity between assemblages.     

3-Carboxy-4-phosphonocyclopentane amino acids: New metabotropic glutamate receptor ligands

Summary.  Two glutamic acid analogs (1SR,3RS,4RS)- and (1SR,3SR,4SR)-1-amino-4-phosphono cyclopentane-1,3-dicarboxylic acids (APCPD) have been synthesized. Pure E-(diethoxy-phosphoryl)-acrylic acid ethyl ester was obtained from ethyl propiolate, phenol and triethylphosphite. It was used as dienophile in a Diels-Alder reaction. Oxidation and cyclization afforded 3-(ethoxy-carbonyl)-4-(diethoxy-phosphoryl)-cyclopentanone. Bucherer-Bergs reaction and hydrolysis yielded APCPD-III and -IV which are inactive on mGlu1a receptor and antagonists on mGlu2 and mGlu8a receptors. Received April 2, 2002 Accepted July 11, 2002 Published online December 18, 2002 Acknowledgments This work was supported by grants from the CNRS, the programs “Physique et Chimie du Vivant” (PCV00–134, CNRS) and “Molécules et Cibles Thérapeutiques” (CNRS/INSERM), RETINA France and the Fondation de France (Comité Parkinson). A.-S. B. was supported by fundings from Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research (Ann Arbor, MI) and the Fondation de la Recherche Médicale. Authors' address: Dr Francine C. Acher, Laboratoire de Chimie et Biochimie Pharmacologiques et Toxicologiques, UMR8601-CNRS, Université René Descartes-Paris V, 45 rue des Saints-Pères, 75270 Paris Cedex 06, France, Fax: (33) 1 42 86 83 87, E-mail: acher@biomedicale.univ-paris5.fr     

The biodiversity of air spora in an Italian vineyard

Biodiversity indices are frequently used to provide a numerical value of the diversity of species within an ecological community. To study fungal biodiversity in the air, a 7-day recording Hirst-type spore trap was used. The daily concentration of 124 taxa was recorded in an Italian vineyard. The predominant fungi were: Cladosporium spp., unknown 3-septate fusiform spore, and Alternaria spp. Shannon’s and Simpson’s biodiversity indices and evenness were calculated first for air spora. Meteorological circumstances affected the biodiversity; positive correlations were found between Simpson’s biodiversity index and precipitation, but no significant correlations were found with Shannon’s diversity index and evenness. To predict Simpson’s index for airborne fungi, regression analysis was performed. It was shown that the best estimator, sun hours, negatively affected the index. The biodiversity of the dominant species was low on dry days, since Cladosporium alone had much higher abundance on such days than other species.     

Respiratory nematodiases in raptors in Quebec

This is a retrospective study on wild raptors submitted to the Université de Montréal (Quebec, Canada) from 1989 to 1996. Cyathostoma spp. (Nematoda: Syngamidae) adults and/or eggs were found in air sacs, lungs, bronchi, and trachea of 12 raptors (Falconiformes and Strigiformes) from Quebec, Canada, belonging to eight different species, five of which are first host records for this parasite: barred owl (Strix varia), snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca), northern harrier (Circus cyaneus), northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), and broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus). The infection was considered fatal in four birds, while no significant clinical signs were observed in the other cases. Major pathologic changes included diffuse pyogranulomatous air sacculitis, pneumonia, and bronchitis. A few unidentified larval nematodes embedded in a granuloma were found in the lungs of an additional Coopers' hawk (Accipiter cooperii); they were not considered clinically significant. A dead nematode, surrounded by necrotic inflammatory cells, was found in the air sac of a northern goshawk. The presence of nematodes in air sacs or lungs should be considered in wild raptors demonstrating respiratory problems.     

Comparison of Rhizosphere Bacterial Communities in Arabidopsis thaliana Mutants for Systemic Acquired Resistance

Systemic acquired resistance (SAR) is an inducible systemic plant defense against a broad spectrum of plant pathogens, with the potential to secrete antimicrobial compounds into the soil. However, its impact on rhizosphere bacteria is not known. In this study, we examined fingerprints of bacterial communities in the rhizosphere of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to determine the effect of SAR on bacterial community structure and diversity. We compared Arabidopsis mutants that are constitutive and non-inducible for SAR and verified SAR activation by measuring pathogenesis-related protein activity via a β-glucoronidase (GUS) reporter construct driven by the β-1-3 glucanase promoter. We used terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of MspI- and HaeIII-digested 16S rDNA to estimate bacterial rhizosphere community diversity, with Lactobacillus sp. added as internal controls. T-RFLP analysis showed a clear rhizosphere effect on community structure, and diversity analysis of both rhizosphere and bulk soil operational taxonomic units (as defined by terminal restriction fragments) using richness, Shannon–Weiner, and Simpson’s diversity indices and evenness confirmed that the presence of Arabidopsis roots significantly altered bacterial communities. This effect of altered soil microbial community structure by plants was also seen upon multivariate cluster analysis of the terminal restriction fragments. We also found visible differences in the rhizosphere community fingerprints of different Arabidopsis SAR mutants; however, there was no clear decrease of rhizosphere diversity because of constitutive SAR expression. Our study suggests that SAR can alter rhizosphere bacterial communities, opening the door to further understanding and application of inducible plant defense as a driving force in structuring soil bacterial assemblages.     

On the measurement of species diversity incorporating species differences

When pairwise differences (relatedness) between species are numerically given, the average of the species differences weighted by relative frequencies can be used as a species diversity index. This paper first theoretically develops the indices of this type, then applies them to forestry data. As examples of diversity indices, this paper explores the taxonomic diversity and the newly introduced amino acid diversity, which is a modification of the nucleotide diversity in genetics. The first, mathematical part shows that both indices can be decomposed into three inner factors; evenness of relative frequencies (=the Simpson index), the simple average over species differences regardless of relative frequencies, and the taxonomic or genetic balance in relative frequencies. The taxonomic diversity has another decomposition: the sum over the Simpson indices at all the taxonomic levels. The second part examines the effects of different forest management techniques on diversity. It is shown that a thinning operation for promoting survival of specific desirable species also contributed to increasing the taxonomic diversity. If we calculated only conventional indices that do not incorporate species relatedness, we would simply conclude that the thinning did not significantly affect the diversity. The theoretical developments of the first part complement the result, leading us to a better interpretation about contrasting vegetation structures. The mathematical results also reveal that the amino acid diversity involves redundant species, which is undesirable when measuring diversity; hence, this index is used to demonstrates crucial points when we introduce species relatedness. The results suggest further possibilities of applying diversity indices incorporating species differences to a variety of ecological studies.     

A BIOSYSTEMATIC STUDY OF TRIDENS (GRAMINEAE)

Tateoka , Tuguo . (U. Montréal, Montréal, Canada.) A biosystematic study of Tridens (Gramineae) . Amer. Jour. Bot. 48(7): 565–573. Illus. 1961.—The genus Tridens has been studied from cytological, morphological, anatomical and histological points of view. Species of Tridens can be divided into 2 groups according to the characters of caryopses, stigmas, lemmas, paleas and general habit. In accordance with the morphological disparities, the 2 groups have different appearances of the anatomy of leaf margins and midribs and also of the bicellular microhairs on the epidermis of the leaf blade. Further, the 2 groups have different basic chromosome numbers, x=8 and x=10, and some distinction in karyotype. Somatic chromosomes of 8 species have been examined. The evidence given by the combined studies indicates that Tridens should be regarded as a mixture of 2 phylogenetically distant groups. Based on this conclusion, the 5 species representing one of the 2 groups (T. pilosus, T. avenaceus, T. grandiflorus, T. nealleyi and T. pulchellus) are transferred to the genus Erioneuron which is hereby revived. Nomenclatural changes are made for the species of the revived genus.     

Taxonomic and functional diversity covary in rock pool microalgal communities despite their different drivers

Local biodiversity has traditionally been estimated with taxonomic diversity metrics such as species richness. Recently, the concept of biodiversity has been extended beyond species identity by ecological traits determining the functional role of a species in a community. This interspecific functional diversity typically responds more strongly to local environmental variation compared with taxonomic diversity, while taxonomic diversity may mirror more strongly dispersal processes compared with functional metrics. Several trait‐based indices have been developed to measure functional diversity for various organisms and habitat types, but studies of their applicability on aquatic microbial communities have been underrepresented. We examined the drivers and covariance of taxonomic and functional diversity among diatom rock pool communities on the Baltic Sea coast. We quantified three taxonomic (species richness, Shannon''s diversity, and Pielou''s evenness) and three functional (functional richness, evenness, and divergence) diversity indices and determined abiotic factors best explaining variation in these indices by generalized linear mixed models. The six diversity indices were highly collinear except functional evenness, which merely correlated significantly with taxonomic evenness. All diversity indices were always explained by water conductivity and temperature–sampling month interaction. Taxonomic diversity was further consistently explained by pool distance to the sea, and functional richness and divergence by pool location. The explained variance in regression models did not markedly differ between taxonomic and functional metrics. Our findings do not clearly support the superiority of neither set of diversity indices in explaining coastal microbial diversity, but rather highlight the general overlap among the indices. However, as individual metrics may be driven by different factors, the greatest advantage in assessing biodiversity is nevertheless probably achieved with a simultaneous application of the taxonomic and functional diversity metrics.     

Preliminary analysis of bacterial diversity associated with the Porites coral from the Arabian sea

It is widely reported that coral reefs are suffering degradation from a combination of stresses. We have previously reported the use of genomic tools in the study of environmental impact assessment and hypothesize that monitoring the bacterial diversity associated with a coral would indicate changes in its health before visible damage occurs. This study analyzes the bacterial diversity associated with Porites coral collected from two sites in the Arabian Sea using culture independent techniques. Two clone libraries were constructed from the16S rDNA amplicons and selected individual clones were partially sequenced. Retrieved sequences were identified by BLAST analysis and indicate the presence of unidentified bacteria. Diversity index was calculated using Shannon–Wiener index. The bacterial diversity associated with coral sample 1 gives the index of species diversity, H ₁ as 1.6287, divergence from eqiprobability as 45.708% and the evenness of the sample as 54.291. For coral sample 2, the values obtained were, H ₁ as 1.97, divergence from eqiprobability as 15.11% and the evenness of the sample as 84.88. Sequences representing bacteria related to agricultural or industrial pollution and pathogenesis were also found. Coral samples collected near a lagoon area, showed a greater percentage of sequences representing bacteria related to human interventions, indicative of pollution.     

Prevalence of Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp. and Listeria spp. in ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis).

Cloacal swabs collected from 264 ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) at four sites near Montréal, Canada were cultured for the presence of Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp. and Listeria spp. All birds were apparently healthy when captured or killed. Of all birds examined, 8.7%, 15.9% and 9.5%, respectively, were infected with Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp. and Listeria monocytogenes. Overall, 29.9% of gulls sampled harbored one or more of these bacteria. Gulls probably play only a minor role in the epizootiology of these bacteria.     

Species richness and evenness respond in a different manner to propagule density in developing prairie microcosm communities

Diversity has two basic components: richness, or number of species in a given area, and evenness, or how relative abundance or biomass is distributed among species. Previously, we found that richness and evenness can be negatively related across plant communities and that evenness can account for more variation in Shannon’s diversity index (H′) than richness, which suggests that relationships among diversity components can be complex. Non-positive relationships between evenness and richness could arise due to the effects of migration rate or local species interactions, and relationships could vary depending on how these two processes structure local communities. Here we test whether diversity components are equally or differentially affected over time by changes in seed density (and associated effects on established plant density and competition) in greenhouse communities during the very early stages of community establishment. In our greenhouse experiment, we seeded prairie microcosms filled with bare field soil at three densities with draws from a mix of 22 grass and forb species to test if increased competition intensity or seedling density would affect the relationships among diversity components during early community establishment. Increased seed density treatments caused diversity components to respond in a different manner and to have different relationships with time. Richness increased linearly with seed density early in the experiment when seedling emergence was high, but was unrelated to density later in the experiment. Evenness decreased log-linearly with seed densities on all sampling dates due to a greater dominance by Rudbeckia hirta with higher densities. Early in the experiment, diversity indices weakly reflected differences in richness, but later, after the competitive effects of Rudbeckia hirta became more intense, diversity indices more strongly reflected differences in evenness. This suggests that species evenness and diversity indices do not always positively covary with richness. Based on these results, we suggest that evenness and richness can be influenced by different processes, with richness being more influenced by the number of emerging seedlings and evenness more by species interactions like competition. These results suggest that both diversity components should be measured in plant diversity studies whenever it is possible.     

Tree Diversity in Western Kenya: Using Profiles to Characterise Richness and Evenness

Species diversity is a function of the number of species and the evenness in the abundance of the component species. We calculated diversity and evenness profiles, which allowed comparing the diversity and evenness of communities. We applied the methodology to investigate differences in diversity among the main functions of trees on western Kenyan farms. Many use-groups (all trees and species that provide a specific use) could not be ranked in diversity or evenness. No use-group had perfectly even distributions. Evenness could especially be enhanced for construction materials, fruit, ornamental, firewood, timber and medicine, which included some of the most species-rich groups of the investigated landscape. When considering only the evenness in the distribution of the dominant species, timber, medicine, fruit and beverage ranked lowest (> 60% of trees belonged to the dominant species of these groups). These are also use-groups that are mainly grown by farmers to provide cash through sales. Since not all communities can be ranked in diversity, studies that attempt to order communities in diversity should not base the ordering on a single index, or even a combination of several indices, but use techniques developed for diversity ordering such as the Rényi diversity profile. The rarefaction of diversity profiles described in this article could be used in studies that compare results from surveys with different sample sizes.     

An assessment of the dependence of evenness indices on species richness

Evenness is the component of species diversity that was built to be mathematically independent from species richness. Yet, earlier work questioned the generality of this independence. However, this earlier work involved only a few relative abundance distributions (RADs), very limited gradients of species richness, or evenness indices, such as Pielou's index, that were not defined in relation to a precise, coherent set of axioms. We show that for very different theoretical RADs, a relationship between evenness indices and species richness does exist and is strong-at least for some RADs and/or when species richness is under 20. Furthermore, this relationship is mostly negative, which contradicts some previous studies. We also show that, for the very uneven RADs we tested, evenness indices depend even more on species richness than diversity indices do. Finally, we discuss the philosophy behind the analysis of evenness-richness relationships within and between RADs, as well as the interest of correcting evenness indices for species richness when species richness varies, especially with many values under 20.     

A Statistical Test of Network Analysis: Can it Detect Differences in Food Web Properties?

Ecological network analysis (ENA) is a modeling approach increasingly being used to examine food webs. However, most studies do not replicate networks, and a statistical evaluation of ENA is lacking. The major objectives of this study, therefore, were to evaluate statistically the effectiveness of ENA in detecting differences in food web properties and to compare ENA output with established community level indices. Quantitative trophic networks (n = 12) representing four high salt marsh ponds during three times (corresponding to low stress, high stress, and post-disturbance) were constructed from an extensive field sampling program augmented by literature values. Food webs of salt marsh ponds were used because these systems contain relatively simple food webs, have well defined boundaries, and allow for adequate replication. A null hypothesis was tested to determine how values of 12 indices from ENA output differed among the three stress/disturbance conditions (H _o: low stress = high stress = post-disturbance). Results of both ANOVA and Friedman’s tests indicated most ENA indices were significantly different among the three stress/disturbance conditions. The amount of covariance among the indices was relatively low (7 of 66 were significant). Results were compared to differences in community indices (richness, evenness, and diversity) among the three stress/disturbance conditions. ENA output identified differences beyond those recognized by the community indices. Overall, networks were unique enough under different environmental conditions to provide statistically significant differences in ENA results. Our findings are supportive of the use of carefully constructed networks in food web analysis and for decision making in ecosystem-based management. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Application of Diversity Indices to Appraise Plant Availability in the Traditional Medicinal Markets of Johannesburg,South Africa

The lack of scientific rigour in analysing ethnobotanical surveys has prompted researchers to investigate ways of quantitatively describing their data, including the use of ecological diversity indices. There are numerous indices and measures available to describe sample diversity. Twenty-two measures of species richness, diversity and evenness were reviewed using six sets of ethnomedicinal data derived from 50 formal muti shop traders (of different ethnicities) and 100 informal street traders of traditional medicine in Johannesburg, South Africa, and a seventh data set from traders on the western boundary of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. The diversity measures were coupled with species accumulation curves to construct cumulative diversity curves used to determine the minimum viable sample size on which a diversity index should be based, and to better understand the differences in the relative diversities of the samples. Distinct differences in the relative abundance and diversity of plants sold by street traders and shop traders were evident. Species diversity and evenness was found to be higher in shops, thus resulting in a lower dominance in the sale of certain plant species compared to the street traders. A survey of an informal market should include no less than 35 research participants compared to no less than 20 for the muti shops. The use of selected indices of species richness (Margalef's), diversity (Shannon, Simpson's, Fisher's alpha, Hill's numbers) and evenness are recommended as a means of describing patterns exhibited within ethnobotanical data.