ABSTRACT Estimating species richness with herbarium data and new collections allows us to understand the distribution of diversity. We investigated the accuracy of lycophyte and fern sampling along a vegetation gradient in the subtropical Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil. We compiled lycophyte and fern collection metadata and estimated species richness and assessed sampling accuracy for sixty 50 x 50 km units using ACE, Chao 1, Chao 2, Jackknife 1 and Jackknife 2 estimators. We compiled data for 12,779 fern specimens of 441 species, 67 of which were sampled in only one unit (singletons) and 35 in two units (duplicates). Of the 60 units examined, only 11 had observed values that were above 70% of their estimated values, and 14 had observed levels between... |