Grids versus regional species lists: are broad-scale patterns of species richness robust to the violation of constant grain size?

Abstract

Where distribution maps do not exist ecologists often use regional species lists to examine geographic patterns of species richness, despite the fact that inconsistent grain sizes across areas may complicate interpretation of the results. We compare patterns of species richness of European butterflies and dragonflies using regional species lists (varying grain size) and regular grids (constant grain size).

We asked if species lists give results comparable to the gridded data when used in simple macroecological analysis of environmental correlates of species richness

Keywords

• Et-al. 2007
• geographical ecology
• latitudinal trends
• plant diversity
• global patterns
• red herrings
• water-energy
• range maps
• europe
• determinants