Effects of varying sampling effort on the observed diversity of carabid (Coleoptera: Carabidae) assemblages in the Danglobe Project, Denmark

Abstract

Diversity relations among three stages of an urbanisation gradient were studied, using the Rényi scalable diversity index family and the Right Tail Sum (RTS) diversity. The rural areas were less diverse than either the urban or the suburban ones. The urban areas were more diverse considering the dominant species, while the suburban areas were more diverse considering the rare species. Next, we examined the impact of different sampling regimes on these diversity relations. A pulsating sampling method (sampling for 2 weeks every month) gave the same diversity ordering as continuous sampling. Further reduction in sampling period altered the diversity relations.