The probability that two inidividuals selected at random (with replacement,
Hurlbert, 1971, p.579) from a sample will belong to the same species. For
an infinite sample Simpson's Index is given by (Peet, 1974):
$$\lambda = \sum_{i=1}^S p_i^2$$
For a finite sample by:
$$L = \sum_{i=1}^S \frac{n_i (n_i-1)}{N (N-1)}$$
where \(p_i\) the proportion of the individuals in species \(i\),
\(n_i\) the number of individuals in species
\(i\) (relative abundance
), and \(N\) the total number
of individuals (total_abundance
). The finite sample case
has been implemented in function simpson
(and simpson_
).