Abstract
Assessing biodiversity is a pre-requisite for the conservation of any region, and biological databases are an essential tool for estimation of diversity measures. However, biogeographical and administratively fragmented regions are commonly characterized by heterogeneous databases performed by different institutions at different scales. In this study, the floristic knowledge (vascular plants) detected by regional databases in the Cantabrian Range (Spain) is assessed. Georeferenciated and non-overlapping databases provided by a biological collection (herbarium) and a more complete Atlas (herbarium + literature) were compared in terms of historical prospection and spatial patterns (10x10 km UTM grid) of species richness, and their completeness was evaluated using nonparametric estimators (ICE, Chao2, Jack1 and Jack2). Both regional databases were also compared with a national floristic database covering the whole study area. Regional databases detected similar patterns of historical and spatial sampling effort, and observed species richness was highly correlated with the national database, although a high variability in maximum species richness by UTM was detected. Richness estimations showed that regional databases are incomplete, although they permit to estimate the total floristic richness of the Cantabrian Range in c. 3590 species and subspecies. Our results suggest that incomplete, geographically biased and heterogeneous databases offer similar possibilities for detecting under-sampled areas in a given territory, although joining literature with herbarium data may considerably improve species richness estimations. Nevertheless, a complete and cost-effective biodiversity assessment of biogeographical areas characterized by different databases should be only concluded merging all available data. In conclusion, a serious effort to unify regional and other databases in mountain areas is strongly recommended.
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