collocation · academic

species richness

UK/ˈspiːʃiːz ˈrɪtʃnəs/US/ˈspiːʃiz ˈrɪtʃnəs/SPE·cies RICH·ness

Band 7+task2speaking

The number of different species present in a given area.

Examples

Protected areas often show higher species richness than logged forests.

Sampling multiple habitats gave a better estimate of species richness.

Islands can have high species richness despite small area when endemism is high.

Band 8 sentence

Conservationists prioritised sites with high species richness because they supported multiple ecosystem functions.

Collocations

  • high species richness
  • measure species richness

Word family

species nounrichness nounspecies-rich adj

Common mistakes

biodiversityspecies richness

specieses richnessspecies richness

Say it for a higher band

5biodiversity6species diversity7+species richness

Synonyms

species diversity

Easily confused

species diversity

Species diversity accounts for both the number of species and their relative abundance.

Related words

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In Nature & Animals

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