Aggregated species richness and habitat heterogeneity variables for testing the habitat-heterogeneity hypothesis, 2006-2018

The habitat-heterogeneity hypothesis predicts monotonously increasing biodiversity with increasing habitat heterogeneity, due to an increasing number of niches. The area-trade-off hypothesis, however, predicts a decrease in biodiversity at high levels of habitat heterogeneity because of a trade-off between heterogeneity and effective niche area. In this study, we used biodiversity data from twelve taxonomic-functional groups and classified a set of potentially important heterogeneity variables at the forest stand scale with support of airborne laser scanning. To include a comprehensive gradient in heterogeneity, the data collected in the course of the Exploratories (150 plots) was supplemented by two further projects located in the Steigerwald (69 Plots) and in the Bavarian Forest (BIOKLIM, 278 Plots).