A field test of the relationship between habitat area and population size for five perennial plant species

Abstract. The population sizes of five perennial vascular plant species confined to old unimproved dry grasslands were assessed, viz. Anthericum ramosum, Filipendula vulgaris, Silene nutans, Thymus pulegioides, and Thymus serpyllum. All populations within the region were included. Only for Filipendula vulgaris and Thymus serpyllum, significant relationships between habitat area and population size were found. Thus, apparently perennial vascular plants have a limited ability to respond to large habitat areas by forming large populations. This puts a question mark on the use of incidence-function models for the study of plant metapopulations, because these models are based on an assumed positive relationship between habitat area and population size.