ABSTRACT
Enrico Feoli,1,a,* Paola Ganis1,b and Carlo Ricotta2
Diversity is a controversial concept and its common use in different scientifi c disciplines (from chemical-physical ones to ecological and socio-economical ones) and in our everyday language, has led to many discussions about its meaning especially in ecology (e.g., Hurlbert 1971, Feoli et al. 1988, Ricotta 2005, Tuomisto 2010a and b, Jurasinski and Koch 2011, Moreno and Rodríguez 2011, Tuomisto 2011). The great attention that the concept of diversity (biodiversity) has in ecology is due to the fact that it is considered an important characteristic and a useful parameter of the biotic component of habitats, landscapes, biomes and biosphere to understand and infer ecosystem stability, the assembly rules of the plant and animal communities and their changes in space and time. The importance given to the concept in ecology is testifi ed by the large number of papers and books dealing with the concepts and formulas for measuring biodiversity under different perspectives (e.g., Whittaker 1972, May 1975, Pielou 1975, Wilson 1992, Magurran 1988, 2004, Ganis 1991, Huston 1994, Levin 2001, Orlóci et al. 2002, Mason et al. 2005, Jost 2006, Würtz and Annila 2008, Hillebrand and Matthiessen 2009, Pavoine and Bonsall 2011, etc.).
