VASCULAR PLANT SPECIES RICHNESS AT LOCAL SCALE (II). GEOGRAPHICAL COMPARISON BETWEEN AMBITE AND UTANDE (WESTERN “LA ALCARRIA”, SPAIN)

Abstract

The floral Checklist of two UTM grid quadrats of 10 × 10 km (30TWL02, Utande and 30TVK86, Ambite), started in the “Estudios Geográficos” Spanish Review (García-Abad, 2015, vol. 76, number 279), is now completed. It consists of 811 taxa and taxonomic groups (“Cartographic Taxonomic Entities” or CTE) corresponding to the floral contingent of Non-Permanently Visible and Recognizable plants (Non-PVR plants). Tens of singular and new plants of that Checklist, such as Lathyrus pratensis L. or Veronica tenuifolia Asso. subsp. tenuifolia, are highlight. A quantitative synthesis on this flora is completed that shows richness levels within the rank 920-1030 plants/100 km2. The most relevant descriptive data are presented and compared between both quadrats: their floristic similarity is medium-high (Jaccard index: 0.66), the generated database has 50330 records, the results are compared between the two floristic groups involved (plants PVR, 30%, and Non-PVR, 70%). The species richness levels obtained is relativized due to problems that phenological restrictions cause in the base surveys (1 km2). The upscaling operation from the first 1 km square resolution to three other smaller ones (4, 25 and 100 km2) reveals a evidently improvement in distributional certainty to later plants mapping. The progressive plant species richness upscaling reveals the following averages sequence: 458 plants (2 km square resolution), 729 (5 km) and 957 (10 km). Finally, an assessment is made of the quality of the richness results according to a semi-quantitative scale.