IN SEARCH OF THE BEST CORRELATES FOR LOCAL ORGANISMAL BIODIVERSITY INCULTIVATED AREAS

Based on a transect consisting of 19 identical trap stations in cultiv ated areas and seminatural habitats, the correlation of species number s of higher taxonomic groups with total species numbers of flowering p lants and arthropods per trap site was calculated. A total of 191 214 invertebrate specimens and 2221 species of plants and animals were ana lysed. Considering the value of the correlation coefficient R-2 as wel l as the effort for sorting and identification, a `top twenty' list of indicator groups favours Heteroptera, flowering plants, Symphyta and aculeate Hymenoptera as the best choice for biodiversity evaluation. I n general, flight traps rated better than pitfall traps. In most taxon omic groups, diversity indices such as the Shannon and the Simpson ind ex were only weakly correlated with local species diversity.