ABSTRACT Patterns of species diversity are essential to understand community structure. We aimed to determine species diversity and patterns of beta diversity in different spatial scales. We sampled three thousand individuals between the coordinates 22°10'S to 22°16'S and 47°47'W to 48°00'W to assess species diversity in three spatial scales (maximum distances of 80 m, 1,400 m, and 12,000 m), using the point-centered-quarter method. We partitioned gamma diversity into alpha and beta components. Beta diversity was partitioned into dissimilarities produced by spatial species turnover and nestedness. The contribution of beta diversity to gamma diversity was greater than that of alpha diversity in all scales, although the patterns of species diversity were... |