Simple tutorial on how to use PAST programme (how to find the diversity indices)

I will show you the basic step on how to use PAST programme (Version 2.05) to calculate and find the diversity indices such as Shannon, Simpson, Menhinick, Margalef and Fisher alpha.

a. How to key in the data in Microsoft Excel:
 1. Open Microsoft Excel.
2. Column B, C, D, E, F (row 1): List of sampling sites
3. Row 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (Column A): List of species present at the sampling sites
4. Column B till column F, Row 2 till Row 6: Number of individuals per species caught at each sampling sites

b. How to insert data in PAST
1. highlight data in the Microsoft Excel, then click ‘copy’.
2. open the PAST programme.
3. click at ‘Edit labels’
4. click ‘Edit’, then click ‘paste’. Or you can just use the shorcut (Ctrl+v).

5. after that, highlight the area, then click ‘diversity’ then click ‘diversity indices’.

6.  then PAST will show you ‘diversity’. Now, you can choose the diversity indices that you want. Good luck!