Statistical test for count data in three different environments I'm an undergrad student working on a small research project while studying abroad and I was looking for a statistical test that I could use to compare species richness between three forest types.
I collected data on the species richness of moss (i.e. number of unique moss species) for 4 replicates of three forest types (birch, spruce, pine), giving me a total of 12 forest plots in total. In each replicate, I sampled 10 quadrats, thus 120 quadrats in total. I want to see how species richness differs between birch, spruce, and pine forests.
So if I know the total species richness for each of the 4 replicates of each forest type, how could I compare the richness of the different forest types by running a stat test in R?
Example Data: not my actual data
Spruce1 = 4 unique species,
Spruce2 = 5 unique species,
Spruce3 = 5 unique species,
Spruce4 = 4 unique species.
Birch1 = 3 unique species,
Birch2 = 2 unique species,
Birch3 = 6 unique species,
Birch4 = 3 unique species.
Pine1 = 3 unique species,
Pine2 = 3 unique species,
Pine3 = 4 unique species,
Pine4 = 3 unique species.
^^Is there a statistical difference in species diversity in the different forest types?
This might be a pretty simple question, but I am pretty new to this, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

What you need is a rarefaction. Take a look at the iNext R package that implements interpolation and extrapolation
