Human population, grasshopper and plant species richness in European countries

Macrofungal taxa and human population in Italy’s regions

“…There was a significant increase of macrofungal taxonomic richness with human population size and density, but only without controlling for variations in area amongst regions. This result is in disagreement with previous studies reporting significant positive relationships between the species richness of various taxa other than fungi and human presence at broad scales (e.g., Rondinini et al 2006;Vazquez and Gaston 2006;Moreno-Rueda and Pizarro 2007;Steck and Pautasso 2008;Schlick-Steiner et al 2008). However, there is evidence that also at least some of the previously observed positive correlations between biodiversity and people disappear if confounding variables are controlled for (e.g., Chown et al 2003).…”

Positive regional species–people correlations: a sampling artefact or a key issue for sustainable development?

“…Fjelds˚a, 2007;Pidgeon et al, 2007;Fjelds˚a & Burgess, 2008;Lepczyk et al, 2008;Moreno-Rueda & Pizarro, 2009). At the level of European countries, a positive species-people correlation was found for ants, aphids, grasshoppers and stream macro-invertebrates (Pautasso & Fontaneto, 2008;Schlick-Steiner et al, 2008;Steck & Pautasso, 2008;Pautasso & Powell, 2009), but the data did not allow the inclusion of sampling effort in those studies. Apart from invertebrates, species-rich groups such as bacteria and fungi have been almost completely neglected from the point of view of the large-scale correlation with people (Pautasso & Zotti, 2009;Nemergut et al, 2010).…”

Why is species richness often higher in more densely populated regions?

“…Hugo & van Rensburg, 2008;Steck & Pautasso, 2008;Luck et al, 2010). Barbosa et al (2010) make an important contribution to this research field in three ways.…”