The change with spatial grain between grasslands and forests is not simply because grassland plots are typically much smaller than forest plots (Chytry´ & Oty´pkova´ 2003), for the same pattern is also found in regional studies where the same set of plot sizes has been used for all vegetation types. For example, Dolnik (2003) studied all major vegetation
types of the Curonian Spit (on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea), using plot sizes of 0.0001–900 m2 and including also bryophytes and lichens. He found, as in our global results, that below 100 m2 a grassland community was richest, while from 100 m2 upwards one shrub and several forest communities were richest (Dolnik’s Fig. 62 and Table 11).