Genetic diversity in widespread species is not congruent with species richness in alpine plant communities

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) aims at the conservation of all three levels of biodiversity, i.e. ecosystems, species and genes. Genetic diversity represents evolutionary potential and is important for ecosystem functioning. Unfortunately, genetic diversity in natural populations is hardly considered in conservation strategies because it is difficult to measure and has been hypothesized to co-vary with species richness. This means that species richness is taken as a surrogate of genetic diversity in conservation planning, though their relationship has not been properly evaluated. We tested whether the genetic and species levels of biodiversity co-vary, using a large-scale and multi-species approach. We chose the high-mountain flora of the Alps and the Carpathians as study systems and demonstrate that species richness and genetic diversity are not correlated. Species richness thus cannot act as a surrogate for genetic diversity. Our results have important consequences for i..., Data on species richness and genetic diversity in high-mountain vascular plants of the Alps and the Carpathians(i) Floristic data of vascular high-mountain plants from the Alps and the Carpathians, with occurrences of each species with a regular grid system (ii) Species-specific AFLP data (1/0 matrices) separately for samples from Alps and Carpathians, collected along the same grid system as the floristic dataTaberlet_etal_EcologyLetters2012.zip,