Animal species diversity driven by habitat heterogeneity/diversity: the importance of keystone structures

Abstract Aim In a selected literature survey we reviewed studies on the habitat heterogeneity–animal species diversity relationship and evaluated whether there are uncertainties and biases in its empirical support. Location World‐wide. Methods We reviewed 85 publications for the period 1960–2003. We screened each publication for terms that were used to define habitat heterogeneity, the animal species group and ecosystem studied, the definition of the structural variable, the measurement of vegetation structure and the temporal and spatial scale of the study. Main conclusions The majority of studies found a positive correlation between habitat heterogeneity/diversity and animal species diversity. However,…

• FM
  Federalno Ministarstvo Obrazovanja i Nauke
• BF
  Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung