Plant species richness: the world records

Abstract Questions The co‐existence of high numbers of species has always fascinated ecologists, but what and where are the communities with the world records for plant species richness? The species–area relationship is among the best‐known patterns in community ecology, but does it give a consistent global pattern for the most saturated communities, the global maxima? Location The world. Methods We assembled the maximum values recorded for vascular plant species richness for contiguous areas from 1 mm 2 up to 1 ha. We applied the power function to relate maximal richness to area and to make extrapolations to the whole Earth. Results Only two community types contain global plant species maxima. The maxima at…

• EC
  European Commission
• ER
  European Regional Development Fund