Endangered animal species often live in isolated patches of habitat. If the population in a patch varies a lot (due to weather, for example), the species is more likely to disappear from that patch in a bad year. Here is a general question: Is there less variation in population size when a patch of habitat has more diverse vegetation? If so, maintaining habitat diversity can help protect endangered species. A researcher measured the variation over time in the population of a cricket species in 45 habitat patches. He also measured the diversity of each patch. He reported his results by giving the least-squares equation along with the fact thatr²=0.18.

Population Variation = 84.4-0.13×diversity. How much of the variation is explained by diversity?

How much of the variation is explained by diversity?