Re taxonomic distance based alpha diversity

Can you include a taxonomic based alpha diversity measure similar to that described by MG Watve and RM Gangal Problems in Measuring Bacterial Diversity and a Possible Solution Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 1996 62: 4299-4301. in a future release

Is this getting wide use somewhere that we’re missing? Do shannon/simpson/phylogenetic diversity not do the trick?