There are very few ecosystems where low species diversity is a good thing.
We observed low species richness in both industrial and natural wetlands.
In contrast, young (<30 years) single-layered stands had consistently low species diversity.
Naor, A., Lapierre, P., Mevarech, M., Papke, R. T. & Gophna, U. Low species barriers in halophilic archaea and the formation of recombinant hybrids.
Isolated and ephemeral ponds located in degraded shrublands showed low species richness values in Chaco dry forests.
Plots with high cover of T. × glauca had low species richness (negative correlation, R2 = 0.72, p < 0.001).
Many tundra species cannot be found elsewhere, and thus the biome is an important contributor to global biodiversity despite its low species number.
The low species diversity of both plants and animals in polar regions contributes to the lack of complexity that characterizes Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems.
The current study shows that rates of diversification between carnivorous wasps and the earliest pollen-eating bees (the family Melittidae) match closely, with low species numbers per family (123 species for Ammoplanidae wasps, for example, and 203 Melittidae bee species).
Despite the low species number, natural forest showed higher Shannon and Simpson diversity indices and Shannon evenness than crop fields and homegardens.
Species richness (α-diversity) and community composition (β-diversity) had, for example, contrasting relationship to altitude: 300 450 m altitude giving high species richness but low species turnover.
