CHAPTER IV 



VEGETATIONAL ANALYSIS 

 PHYTOSOCIOLOGICAL OBJECTIVES 



The interest of European workers in community structure, 

 their desire to describe communities precisely, and their concern 

 with systems of classifying communities resulted in the develop- 

 ment of a phase of ecology known as phytosociology. Its develop- 

 ment was paralleled by (1), the growth of systems of terminology 

 with which the characteristics of a community could be adequate- 

 ly expressed, and (2), the testing and refinement of methods for 

 obtaining quantitative data on the structure and composition of a 

 community to support the systems of description. 



Phytosociological methods and terminology have become pro- 

 gressively more standardized, but, as yet, there is not complete 

 agreement among workers. The problems to be resolved are still 

 of the same nature as those of earlier days as is illustrated by a re- 

 cent characterization, 196 which groups them into two categories : 

 (a) the size and number of quadrats to be utilized and (b) the 

 conditions to be investigated. The first we have discussed at some 

 length as a part of quantitative methods in community analysis. It 

 should be remembered that the development of these methods has 

 been strongly influenced by phytosociological interests. Although 

 the quadrat method in ecology had its origins in America, its 

 adaptation and refinement for complete analysis and description 

 of communities must be largely credited to European workers. 



What phytosociological values are necessary for an adequate 

 characterization of a community would hardly be agreed upon by 

 all workers even today. Through the years this has been the subject 

 of much debate. Some early workers attempted to describe com- 

 munities on the basis of a single value (e.g., frequency) for each 

 species. Today such a simple system would not be recommended 

 by anyone, and, regardless of objectives, several values are now 

 used in all phytosociological analyses. Adethods of sampling and 

 objectives have always influenced each other, and, therefore, it is 

 not surprising that early European workers had widely different 



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