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The study examined the ability of two ground survey methods to thoroughly characterise the woody-perennial species richness of single sample sites or environmental regions. It focused on the Stony Plains Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation of Australia (IBRA) in the South Australian rangelands, and analysed field survey data collected by two government agencies for biodiversity assessment and land condition monitoring. Species-richness /sampling-effort

relationships were analysed to determine the adequacy of sampling. To ensure the validity of the analysis a method was developed to remove any potential temporal bias from the species-richness /sampling-effort relationships. It was demonstrated that the species richness of the majority of single sites and regions was not adequately characterised. Two important conclusions can be drawn from the results of this study. Firstly, that further sampling would change our understanding of the suite of woody -perennial vegetation species typical of those regions which have not yet been adequately characterised. Secondly, that regional estimates of species richness derived from this field survey data should be used with caution.