Diversity of species is an important component of health for any ecosystem, and the gastrointestinal microbiome is no exception.  Recent research clearly indicates that greater diversity is associated with a robust and healthy microbiome.  Greater diversity is important for redundancy with respect to important functional guilds, i.e. butyrate production. For the GI360™ the Diversity Score is calculated from the microbiota abundance data (PCR), using the well-established Shannon’s diversity index. Data from DDI indicates that the Dysbiosis Index and Diversity Score are inversely correlated- the higher the Dysbiosis Index, the lower the Diversity Score. As such, a Diversity Score would be expected to improve with successful clinical intervention to restore normobiosis.