Title:Using standardized sampling designs from population ecology to assess biodiversity patterns of therophyte vegetation across scales

Introduction: GENERAL- Biodiversity can be studied in nature over a wide range of scales corresponding to different hierarchical levels (e.g. Wagner et al., 2000; Crawley & Harral, 2001; Whittaker et al., 2001; Gering & Crist, 2002; Willis & Whittaker, 2002). The usual approach in biodiversity studies is to confine the investigation to specific vegetation types, e.g. to forests (Condit et al., 1996; Qian et al., 1998) or to alvar grasslands (Sykes et al., 1994; Partel et al., 2001), or to specific land uses (Rescia et al., 1997). STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM - The analysis of diversity across multiple scales is hampered by methodological difficulties resulting from the use of different sampling methods at different scales and by the application of different definitions of the communities to be sampled at different scales. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: Objective: to analyse diversity in a nested hierarchy of scales by applying a formalized sampling concept used in population ecology when analysing population structure. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY- This concept involved a precise definition of the sampled vegetation type by the presence of a target species, in our case Hornungia petraea. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS- they compared separate indices of inventory diversity (i.e. number of species) and differentiation diversity (i.e. extent of change in species composition or dissimilarity) with indices derived from species accumulation curves and related diversity patterns to topographical plot characteristics such as area and distance. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Differentiation diversity Diversity relationships Hornungia petraea Michaelis-Menten Nested sampling design Similarity decay Species accumulation Species richness Methods used in the study: Field sampling Data analysiso Dissimilarity indexo Species accumulationo Similarity decay-

Materials:
Hornungia petraea (L.)

RESULTS: Species richness of subplots, plots and regions Dissimilarity between subplots, plots and regions Species accumulation curves Relationships between different diversity levels Diversity and plot area Similarity decay DISCUSSION: Consequences of the study design Appropriateness of species accumulation curves Comparison of diversity between Germany and Italy Relationships between different diversity levels Diversity and inter-plot distance (similarity decay)