The delineation of plant communities in relatively homogenous grassland

Abstract

A relatively homogenous area of grassland was sampled by means of 2204 systematically place 0.5 m squared quadrats for the presence or absence of all vascular plants this data was processed by the method of normal association analysis which provided an hierarchical subdivision of the vegetation. This subdivision was considered to be too fragmentary. More meaningful vegetation units were thus obtained by terminating subdivision at a higher level, resulting in a reasonable accurate delineation of the plant communities. The method, with adaptations in field technique suited to the particular vegetation under investigation, is considered a valuable technique in ecological study.

Keywords: methods|grid systems|sourveld|Highveld (map)|data capture|techniques|grasslands|ecological studies|vegetation|plant communities|plants|vegetation mapping|homogeneous habitats|association analyses