Random sampling overestimates species richness of shrubland vegetation

Abstract

Vegetation surveys are usually carried out at a single spatial scale, using randomly positioned sample plots. A random design would be very suitable for a species inventory, but may misrepresent local diversity as it would detect species populations that, despite sharing the same habitat, would be distant from one another and probably not interact significantly. As such, it may be less useful for understanding ecosystem processes, since most such processes work most intensely at a short range.