SPECIES RICHNESS COVARIANCE IN HIGHER TAXA - EMPIRICAL TESTS OF THE BIODIVERSITY INDICATOR CONCEPT

The distribution of much of the world's biodiversity is poorly known, It is suggested that tile species richness of certain indicator taxa m ay reflect that of other, poorly studied taxa, making tile mapping of individual taxa uneccessary and providing a guide to conservationists. In this paper we examine this proposition at a spatial scale relevant to practical conservation. We show that the relationship between the species richnesses of certain higher taxa in Britain is spatially high ly variable and unpredictable. Britain may not be representative of ot her areas of the world but our results indicate that considerable furt her analysis is required before indicator taxa tan be recruited as a r eliable short cut to conservation planning.