PLANT SUCCESSION 233 



quate. Unfortunately, sampling methods in successional studies 

 were not improved as rapidly as they should have been. Perhaps 

 students of community dynamics were too much concerned with 

 an overall picture rather than detail. As a result, much desirable 

 information was not obtained and now may not be available be- 

 cause vegetation has been destroyed. 



Phytosociological Methods in Studies of Succession.— The 

 static point of view long held by many Europeans led naturally to 

 an interest in the detail of community composition and structure. 

 Sampling methods were an essential part of their work, and, as a 

 result, these methods were studied and revised for efficiency and 

 effectiveness. Their objectives and uses were outlined in our dis- 

 cussion of analysis and description of plant communities. It was for 

 this purpose that they were developed, but they need not by any 

 means be restricted to static studies. How successfully they can 

 be applied to special successional situations is well illustrated by 

 Billings' 20 study of secondary succession and soil changes on aban- 

 doned fields. It is likewise possible to adapt phytosociological 

 analytical methods to a comprehensive vegetational study involv- 

 ing all the major successional trends of a region. 183 Herein lies an 

 application for phytosociological methods that has so far been 

 given too little attention. In addition to putting on record the 

 sociological characteristics of the various communities involved, 

 the same data can be used for clues to solution of stubborn dy- 

 namic problems, to substantiate observations, and as proof of con- 

 clusions. 



GENERAL REFERENCES 



S. A. CAIN. The Climax and Its Complexities. 



F. E. Clements. Plant Succession : An Analysis of the Development of 

 Vegetation. 



F. E. CLEMENTS. Nature and Structure of the Climax. 



W S. COOPER. The Fundamentals of Vegetational Change. 



J. PHILLIPS. Succession, Development, the Climax, and the Complex Organ- 

 ism : An Analysis of Concepts. 



