Vegetation Description and Data Analysis E-Book

Martin Kent

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 767

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Vegetation Description and Data Analysis: A PracticalApproach, Second Edition is a fully revised and up-datededition of this key text. The book takes account of recent advancesin the field whilst retaining the original reader-friendly approachto the coverage of vegetation description and multivariate analysisin the context of vegetation data and plant ecology.

Since the publication of the hugely popular first edition therehave been significant developments in computer hardware andsoftware, new key journals have been established in the field andscope and application of vegetation description and analysis hasbecome a truly global field. This new edition includes fullcoverage of new developments and technologies.
This contemporary and comprehensive edition of this well-known andrespected textbook will prove invaluable to undergraduate andgraduate students in biological sciences, environmental science,geography, botany, agriculture, forestry and biologicalconservation.
* Fully international approach
* Includes illustrative case studies throughout
* Now with new material on: the nature of plant communities;transitional areas between plant communities; induction anddeduction of plant ecology; diversity indices and dominancediversity curves; multivariate analysis in ecology.
* Accessible, reader-friendly style
* Now with new and improved illustrations

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Preface to the second edition

Acknowledgements

Safety in the field

ACCESS

DISCLAIMER

Chapter 1: The nature of quantitative plant ecology and vegetation science

THE NATURE OF VEGETATION

WHY STUDY VEGETATION?

CASE STUDIES

THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH

PROBLEMS IN QUANTITATIVE PLANT ECOLOGY

Chapter 2: Environmental gradients, plant communities and vegetation dynamics

SCALES OF STUDY

THE CONCEPT OF THE PLANT COMMUNITY

THE DEBATE ON THE EXISTENCE OF PLANT COMMUNITIES

INCORPORATION OF IDEAS OF SPECIES INTERACTION INTO CONCEPTS OF THE PLANT COMMUNITY

HUMAN ACTIVITY, PLANT COMMUNITIES AND LAND USE – THE DISCIPLINE OF LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY

THE TIME FACTOR IN THE STUDY OF VEGETATION

CONCLUSION

Chapter 3: The description of vegetation in the field

INITIAL CONSIDERATIONS

PHYSIOGNOMIC AND FLORISTIC DATA

TECHNIQUES OF VEGETATION DESCRIPTION BASED ON PHYSIOGNOMY AND STRUCTURE

METHODS OF VEGETATION DESCRIPTION BASED ON FLORISTICS

RECORDING VEGETATION OTHER THAN BY SPECIES – SURROGATES AND PLANT FUNCTIONAL TYPES (PFTS)

MEASUREMENT OF VEGETATION QUALITY OR CONDITION

SAMPLING DESIGN FOR VEGETATION DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

CHECKSHEETS

ELLENBERG INDICATOR VALUES (IVS)

VEGETATION DESCRIPTION AT THE LANDSCAPE SCALE – AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY, SATELLITE IMAGERY AND GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Chapter 4: The nature and properties of vegetation data

TABULATION AND CHECKING OF DATA

MULTIVARIATE DATA AND MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS

TYPES OF DATA

TRANSFORMATIONS OF DATA

MEASUREMENT OF ASSOCIATION AND SIMILARITY BETWEEN SPECIES AND SAMPLES

MEASUREMENT OF CORRELATION AND SIMILARITY BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL AND BIOTIC VARIABLES

DIVERSITY AND SPECIES RICHNESS

Chapter 5: Basic statistical methods for understanding multivariate analysis

INTRODUCTION

CLASSICAL (CONFIRMATORY), EXPLORATORY, AND BAYESIAN DATA ANALYSIS

EXPLORATORY DATA ANALYSIS (EDA)

CLASSICAL (CONFIRMATORY) DATA ANALYSIS (CDA)

BAYESIAN DATA ANALYSIS (BDA)

CONCLUSION

Chapter 6: Ordination methods

INTRODUCTION

DIRECT AND INDIRECT ORDINATION OR GRADIENT ANALYSIS

EARLY DIRECT ORDINATION OR GRADIENT ANALYSIS METHODS

INDIRECT ORDINATION OR GRADIENT ANALYSIS

ORDINATION DIAGRAMS – THE END PRODUCT OF ORDINATIONS

MORE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN METHODS OF INDIRECT AND DIRECT ORDINATION

SPECIES DATA TYPES IN ORDINATION ANALYSES

SPECIES DATA ARE OFTEN EASIER TO COLLECT THAN ENVIRONMENTAL/BIOTIC DATA

DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS AND EXPLANATIONS OF ORDINATION METHODS

USE OF ORDINATION METHODS TO ANALYSE SUCCESSIONAL OR TIME-SERIES DATA

PROBLEMS IN THE APPLICATION OF ORDINATION METHODS

Chapter 7: Phytosociology and the Zürich-Montpellier (Braun-Blanquet) school of subjective classification

INTRODUCTION

CLASSIFICATION

PHYTOSOCIOLOGY USING SUBJECTIVE CLASSIFICATION

THE METHOD OF THE ZÜRICH-MONTPELLIER SCHOOL (BRAUN-BLANQUET)

COMPUTERISED METHODS OF TABULAR REARRANGEMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL DATA

DISCUSSION OF THE ZüRICH-MONTPELLIER SYSTEM

ONGOING PHYTOSOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Chapter 8: Numerical classification, cluster analysis and phytosociology

INTRODUCTION

NATURAL AND FORCED CLASSIFICATIONS OF VEGETATION DATA

CHARACTERISTICS OF METHODS OF NUMERICAL CLASSIFICATION

HIERARCHICAL CLASSIFICATION

AGGLOMERATIVE TECHNIQUES

DIVISIVE TECHNIQUES

NON-HIERARCHICAL CLASSIFICATION

RECOMMENDED NUMERICAL CLASSIFICATION ANALYSIS FOR SPECIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL DATA

CLASSIFYING LARGE DATA-SETS

TESTING FOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GROUPS

Chapter 9: Computer software for the analysis of vegetation and environmental/biotic data

SOFTWARE FOR BASIC STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

SOFTWARE FOR THE ANALYSIS OF ECOLOGICAL DATA

CONCLUSION

Chapter 10: Future developments in vegetation science and quantitative plant ecology

References

Plates

Index

This edition first published 2012 © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kent, M., 1950–

Vegetation description and data analysis : a practical approach / Martin Kent. – 2nd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-471-49092-0 (cloth) – ISBN 978-0-471-49093-7 (paper)

1. Plant ecology. 2. Plant communities. 3. Vegetation surveys. 4. Plant ecology–Data processing. 5. Plant communities–Data processing. 6. Vegetation surveys–Data processing. I. Kent, M., 1950– Vegetation description and analysis. II. Title.

QK901.K37 2011

581.7–dc23

2011030218

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This book is published in the following electronic format: ePDF 9781119944782; ePub 9781119962397; Mobi 9781119962403

This second edition is dedicated to my dear friend, academic colleague and former co-author, Paddy Coker, who sadly died in July 2005. His enthusiasm for and enjoyment of the subjects of plant ecology, vegetation science and computing are greatly missed.

Preface to the second edition

The success of the first edition of this text was as much of a surprise to the authors as it was to both the publishers and its academic and scientific audience. The enthusiastic response demonstrated that there was a very clear need for a book that sought to simplify the complexities of vegetation description and multivariate analysis in the context of vegetation data and plant ecology. The first edition went through eight reprints and only went out of print in 2005. A second edition has been at the proposal stage for over ten years and it is only now, following retirement from mainstream academic life, that the author has found the time to develop the project further. Nevertheless, the need for such a text appears to be as great as ever.

In the 19 years since the publication of the first edition, a great deal has changed in the world of vegetation science and plant ecology. What is now one of the key journals in the subject, Journal of Vegetation Science, was only founded in 1990, two years before the publication of the first edition of this book in 1992. The sister journal Applied Vegetation Science only appeared in 1997. Numerous other journals relevant to the subject have evolved during the intervening years and the whole field of multivariate analysis has extended its application across the full range of ecological sciences. While actual methods and techniques have evolved only relatively slowly over this time, far more significant changes have occurred in the world of computer hardware and software. As the review of software in Chapter of this new edition demonstrates, there are now numerous quite sophisticated packages available for vegetation data analysis, and a whole new approach has emerged at the research frontier using the R language and related packages.

Over the past 20 years, the use of methods of vegetation description and analysis has extended globally. Originally the province of a relatively small group of academics in the United Kingdom, Europe, North America and Australia, examination of the range of research locations of scientific papers published in Journal of Vegetation Science and Applied Vegetation Science clearly demonstrates that the scope and application of vegetation description and analysis by scientists and academics is now truly worldwide. One of the paradoxes of this is that during that same period, both plant ecology and vegetation science can only be described as having taken a back seat in the author's home country of the UK. This is partly because many of the most exciting avenues for research and exploration in vegetation science lie elsewhere on the globe, particularly in the tropics. A key theme of the new edition is to demonstrate and foster this worldwide perspective of the subject. This is a perspective that is all the more important because of the universal threats to biodiversity and the limited success of the numerous valiant efforts at biological conservation across the globe in the face of human exploitation and so-called development.

Lastly, the author would like to thank all those students, particularly those who have completed his Masters course in ecology and multivariate analysis at the University of Plymouth over the past 12 years, for their enthusiasm for and commitment to this subject. While the greater range and complexity of methods and of computer software today means that this text cannot possibly cover every aspect of the subject of vegetation science at the research level, ultimately, the purpose of this book is to introduce, simplify and explain quite complex things for the improvement of understanding and to assist with learning. I have never forgotten the comment of a very well-known vegetation research scientist, who came up to me at a conference after the publication of the first edition and told me in no uncertain terms that ‘you should never have published that book – it makes things too easy for students and removes the mystique’!! I knew from that moment onwards that the book had every potential to achieve its objectives and it is my fervent hope that this second edition manages to build even more successfully upon that achievement.

Martin Kent Plymouth, UK March 2011

Acknowledgements

Many people assisted in writing the first edition of this book. In particular Martin Kent would once again like to thank Dr Tom Dargie (private ecological consultant, Boreas Ecology – http://www.boreasecology.com/), who has always shared his enthusiasm and interest for the subject, Professor David Gilbertson (School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth), Dr Ken Thompson (formerly of the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Sheffield) and Dr Peter Wathern (formerly of the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Aberystwyth, Wales), all of whom gave their support and encouragement. A good number of years ago, Dr Nicholas J. Cox of the Department of Geography at the University of Durham read the first edition of the text with an exceptionally trained and critical eye, noting the many small errors therein, and his corrections have helped greatly with this revision. I thank him for his efforts.

Martin Kent wishes to offer very special thanks to Professor Robin Pakeman of The James Hutton Research Institute (formerly the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute), Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, Scotland, for his kindness and patience in carefully reading and correcting the manuscript of this new edition and making a number of very helpful suggestions for its improvement. Very particular thanks also go to Jamie Quinn of the Cartographic Resources Unit in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Plymouth, who redrew most of the original figures and diagrams, as well as many new ones. The volume of work became far more than either of us originally realised but, as the quality of the diagrams demonstrate, he has succeeded admirably. Dr Rana Moyeed of the Department of Statistics, Computing and Mathematics at the University of Plymouth deserves special mention for his tolerance of my many questions concerning statistical analysis relevant to the writing of the revision.

My very good friends, Professor Liquan Zhang of the State Key Laboratory for Estuarine and Coastal Research (SKLEC) and Dr Xihua Wang of the Department of Environmental Science, both from East China Normal University, Shanghai, kindly funded a study visit to China in September–October 2010, which acted as a catalyst for embarking on this second edition. I thank them both very warmly indeed. The University of Plymouth and particularly the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Science have also provided invaluable support throughout the revision and in particular I would wish to thank my colleague Dr Ruth Weaver.

In truth, this edition would never have appeared at all, were it not for the dogged perseverance of a succession of editors at John Wiley and Sons (now Wiley-Blackwell), Keily Larkins, Rachael Ballard and most especially Fiona Woods. Fiona was the one who finally succeeded, and I offer very grateful thanks to you, Izzy Canning, Sarah Karim and your colleagues for all your hard work in seeing this second edition through to publication.

Finally, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my wife Gay for her infinite patience and support during the writing and revision of the book. It is also dedicated to our children Jonathan, Joseph, Holly and Kitty and her husband Ben, and to our grandchildren Sam and Tom.

Copyright and authorship of all figures and tables are acknowledged in the appropriate captions. The authors are grateful to Routledge publishers for permission to include diagrams from P. Gould and R. White (1986) Mental Maps in Chapter .

The author also wishes to thank Professors Bruce McCune and James Grace and MjM Software Design for permission to include material from McCune, B. and Grace, J.B. (2002) Analysis of Ecological Communities, MjM Software Design in Figures 4.1 and 6.23 and the `Landscape Analogy' text for non-metric multidimensional scaling in Chapter 6. Dr. Peter Henderson of Pisces Conservation Ltd. is thanked for permission to present the data in Table 6.5. Dr. Jane Robbins (School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, UK) and Professor John Matthews (Department of Environment and Society, Swansea University, UK) kindly gave permission to use their research published in Journal of Vegetation Science and in Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research as a case study and Plate 1.2.

Every effort has been made to try to trace the copyright holders of material reproduced here. In a small number of cases, this has proved impossible and the author and publisher would be grateful for any further information that would enable them to do so.

Martin Kent School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Plymouth, UK March 2011

Safety in the field

All fieldwork is potentially dangerous, even when carried out in local, well-known areas. Precautions should always be taken and local safety codes adhered to. The following recommendations are important:

1. Always obtain an up-to-date weather forecast.

2. Take advice from local experts if in doubt.

3. Be aware of potential health problems of any members of the party.

4. Collect the addresses and telephone numbers of family or friends of every member of the party.

5. Leave this information and details of the route to be followed with a responsible person at the base and an expected time of return.

6. If possible, carry a mobile phone and a geographical positioning system (GPS) device but bear in mind that signals and reception may be weak or non-existent in remote areas.

7. Never, ever, carry out fieldwork alone: a group of three or four leaves one or two people free to go for help, while a second person can stay with an injured or ill colleague.

8. All members of the party should have had a tetanus injection. Always take note of travel advice relating to preventative inoculations and medicines in the fieldwork locality.

9. Be extra careful in certain habitats such as wetlands, bogs and swamps. Working in the tropics carries special potential dangers.

10. Be prepared for the worst that can happen in terms of bad weather or an accident. Responsible members of the party must be familiar with basic first aid and safety procedures. The following equipment is essential, depending on environment:

suitable footwear (usually stout boots), appropriate clothing, waterproofs with hood, over-trousers, warm hat and gloves, sunhat and sunscreen, water, first aid kit, insect repellent, torch with batteries, whistle, emergency rations including glucose sweets, spare warm clothing and socks, survival blanket or lightweight tent, map and compass.

11. The standard SOS signal for torches or whistles is three short signals, three long and three short.

In the United Kingdom, all those responsible for organising fieldwork and research overseas should be aware of the British Standard 8848 (2007) + Amendment 1 (2009) which provides clear guidelines for good practice. Similar documents and information exist in many other countries.

ACCESS

Always obtain permission from landowners, farmers and other relevant agencies before carrying out fieldwork on their land. By far the majority will gladly give permission provided it is requested before going onto their land.

DISCLAIMER

While every reasonable care has been taken, neither the author nor the publisher accept any liability for any injury, accident, loss or consequent damage, however caused, arising from this book or any information contained therein.