Species richness-standing crop relationship in stream bryophyte communities: patterns across multiple scales

Summary 1 We tested for a unimodal (‘hump-backed’) relationship between species richness and standing crop at various spatial scales in stream bryophyte communities. Bryophyte species and their biomasses were determined from 20 to 25 quadrats in eight river and six stream sites in northern Finland. 2 Regression analyses revealed a quadratic relationship between richness and biomass in only two of the river sites and a positive correlation in one other. A quadratic relationship was detected in three stream sites and richness increased linearly with biomass in another. 3 We also tested for the hump-shaped pattern across individual stream boulders, representing an elevational gradient from con…