Healthy ecosystems include many species (high richness) with similar abundances (high evenness). Thus, both aspects of biodiversity are worthy of conservation. Simultaneously conserving richness and evenness might be difficult, however, if, for example, the restoration of previously absent species to low densities brings a cost in reduced evenness. Using meta-analysis, we searched for benefits ...

There is high uncertainty surrounding the magnitude of current and future biodiversity loss that is occurring due to human disturbances. Here, we present a global meta-analysis of experimental and observational studies that report 327 measures of change in species richness between disturbed and undisturbed habitats across both terrestrial and aquatic biomes. On average, human-mediated disturban...

Consumer and resource control of diversity in plant communities have long been treated as alternative hypotheses. However, experimental and theoretical evidence suggests that herbivores and nutrient resources interactively regulate the number and relative abundance of coexisting plant species. Experiments have yielded divergent and often contradictory responses within and among ecosystems, and ...

Biologists have long searched for mechanisms responsible for the increase in species richness with decreasing latitude. The strong correlation between species richness and climate is frequently interpreted as reflecting a causal link via processes linked to energy or evolutionary rates. Here, we investigate how the aggregation of clades, as dictated by phylogeny, can give rise to significant cl...

The causes of variation in animal species richness at large spatial scales are intensively debated. Here, we examine whether the diversity of food plants, contemporary climate and energy, or habitat heterogeneity determine species richness patterns of avian frugivores across sub-Saharan Africa. Path models indicate that species richness of Ficus (their fruits being one of the major food resourc...

Species richness and evenness are the two major components of biodiversity, but the way in which they are interrelated is a subject of contention. We found a negative relationship between the two variables for bird communities at 92 woodland sites across Australia and sought an explanation. Actual evapotranspiration (AET) was by far the best predictor of species richness. When AET was controlle...

Biodiversity is declining worldwide from reductions in both species richness and evenness. Field experiments have shown that primary productivity is often reduced when richness of plant species is lowered. However, experiments testing richness effects have used evenness levels that are much higher than normally encountered in plant communities and have been based on the assumption that species ...

(Relief influence on tree species richness in secondary forest fragments of Atlantic Forest, SE, Brazil). The aim of this work was to explore the relationship between tree species richness and morphological characteristics of relief at the Ibiúna Plateau (SE Brazil). We sampled 61 plots of 0.30 ha, systematically established in 20 fragments of secondary forest (2-274 ha) and in three areas with...

Recognizing the herbaceous plant species diversity could use as an importantindicator applied for the rangeland and forests management. Considering the presence ofvegetation and animal husbandry in Zagros region, Iran, being aware of the diversity andrichness of plant species is necessary to management or the destructed vegetationrestoration. In order to study the effect of aspect and elevation...

Recent attitude of vegetation assessors is using of new ecologic approaches to evaluate and analyse the complex rangeland ecosystems. Plant diversity is the most important indices to assess the ecological changes of rangelands. In order to survey of plant indices of rangelands, two exclosure areas (long-term and mid-term) and a grazing area in rangelands of Javaherdeh (Ramsar, Iran) were select...