Population Ecology, Biodiversity, and Food Web Calculators

Population Ecology, Biodiversity, and Food Web Calculators | Elysia Tools

Tool usage guide

Learn when to use this tool, what it supports, and how real users apply it.

Overview

This hub brings together the calculations used to move from field observations to a clearer ecological picture. Model exponential and logistic population growth, estimate carrying capacity, compare competition and predator-prey dynamics, estimate abundance from mark-recapture data, and describe community diversity with richness, Shannon, and Simpson metrics. Food-web tools then connect those populations to biomass and trophic energy transfer. The calculators make their equations and assumptions visible for classroom, field-planning, and data-checking use.

When to use

Population size, growth, species interactions, diversity, and food-web energy are related questions, but they are often calculated in separate worksheets or software tools.
Keeping these models together makes it easier to move from a count or time series to an interpretable population, community, or trophic-level comparison.
Each tool states the simplifying assumptions behind its result, helping users recognize when field data need additional sampling, controls, or a more appropriate model.

How it works

1population growth
2carrying capacity
3species interactions
4abundance estimation
5community diversity
6trophic transfer

Use cases

population ecology calculator
biodiversity calculator
Shannon diversity index
Simpson diversity index
carrying capacity calculator
Lotka Volterra simulator
mark recapture estimator
logistic population growth
food web energy transfer
trophic level calculator

FAQ

What ecology workflows does this hub cover?

It covers population growth and carrying capacity, competition and predator-prey dynamics, abundance estimation, community diversity metrics, biomass pyramids, and trophic transfer efficiency.

When should I use exponential versus logistic growth?

Use exponential growth as a short-term, unconstrained reference model. Use logistic growth when a population is expected to slow as it approaches a carrying capacity; neither model replaces evidence from the actual population time series.

Can a diversity index alone describe ecosystem health?

No. Shannon, Simpson, richness, and evenness summarize different aspects of a sampled community. Their interpretation depends on sampling design, effort, habitat, taxonomic resolution, and comparisons to appropriate baselines.

Population Ecology, Biodiversity, and Food Web Calculators

What this hub helps you accomplish

Tools inside this hub

Continue with adjacent topic clusters

Learn when to use this tool, what it supports, and how real users apply it.

Overview

When to use

How it works

Use cases

FAQ

Biomass Pyramid & Energy Flow (10% Law)

Carrying Capacity Estimator (Fit K from Time-Series Data)

Exponential Population Growth (N_t = N₀·e^(rt))

Logistic Population Growth (N_t = K/(1+((K−N₀)/N₀)·e^(−rt)))

Lotka–Volterra Interspecific Competition Simulator

Lotka–Volterra Predator-Prey Dynamics Simulator

Mark-Recapture Population Estimate (Lincoln–Petersen & Chapman)

Population/Resource Doubling Time (Rule of 70)

Shannon Diversity Index (H′ = −Σpᵢ·ln pᵢ)

Simpson Diversity Index (D = 1 − Σpᵢ²)

Species Richness & Evenness (S, Margalef, Menhinick, J = H′/H′max)

Trophic Level Energy Transfer Efficiency (from Measured Levels)

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