Rapid assessments of microbial biodiversity using relationships between genus and species richness. Studies on testate amoebae

This study demonstrates a high correlation between species richness and gen era richness for testate amoebae, both for modem biogeographical data sets and a paleontological data set. Such patterns have previously been describe d for many groups of multicellular organisms, such a relationship may not h ave been expected for testate due to the plasticity of morphological phenot ypes. It suggests a possible method for rapid assessments of microbial dive rsity which could be of particular use to general ecologists working in env ironmental assessment or paleoecological studies.