Alfaindexcalc: Plugin de QGIS para el cálculo de índices de diversidad alfa a partir de datos puntuales de incidencia y abundancia de especies

Abstract

In the ecological field, alpha diversity refers to the diversity of species present in a specific area or ecosystem and is a crucial measure for assessing both species richness and evenness. This indicator is essential in conservation and environmental management studies, as it provides valuable data on the composition of biological communities. However, accurately calculating alpha diversity indices can be complex and imprecise, especially when working with large datasets. Although there are different methods for calculating alpha diversity indices, there is a lack of tools focused on computing these indices from spatial data that include information on species presence/absence or abundance at a given time and location. This document presents a plugin for the open-source software QGIS, based on ecological indices that assess species diversity, dominance, and evenness within a predefined area, habitat, region, or ecosystem. The development of the plugin, called Alfaindexcalc, followed an agile approach based on the Extreme Programming (XP) methodology, allowing for an iterative development process with small increments that facilitated adjustments along the way. To develop and implement the plugin, functional and non-functional requirements were identified based on user needs.