Agrobiodiversity Indicators and Measurement using R for Description, Monitoring, Comparison, Relatedness, Conservation and Utilization

Abstract

Agrobiodiversity is the most important part of biodiversity. It can be described, quantified, compared, and related by using different statistical tools called agrobiodiversity statistics (agro-statistics). Six components and 25 groups of agrobiodiversity should be used for agrobiodiversity analysis. Six types and levels of agrobiodiversity can be quantified. Both quantitative and qualitative data are used for estimating scores and indices. The measurement objects for describing agrobiodiversity are community, household, site, crop group, species, landrace, etc. These objects are called operational agricultural units (OAU). Agromorphological, molecular, and perception data are used in agrobiodiversity studies. Among the many software, RStudio is very good. It is an integrated part of R and includes a console, syntax-highlighting editor, tools for plotting, history, debugging, and workspace management. Vegan and BiodiversityR packages are commonly used for estimating diversity indices and multivariate analysis. Richness, Shannon index and Simpson index are very common means of quantifying agrobiodiversity. Spatial and temporal analysis of agrobiodiversity helps monitor the status and plan the programs and activities.