D 2006

Plot size - a skeleton in the cupboard of phytosociologists.

OTÝPKOVÁ, Zdenka and Leoš KLIMEŠ

Basic information

Original name

Plot size - a skeleton in the cupboard of phytosociologists.

Name in Czech

Velikost plochy - základní nástroj fytocenologů

Authors

OTÝPKOVÁ, Zdenka (203 Czech Republic, guarantor) and Leoš KLIMEŠ (203 Czech Republic)

Edition

2006. vyd. Sofia, IV. Balcan Botanical Congress, Sofia, Bulgaria, 20.-26.6.2006, p. 230-231, 314 pp. 2006

Publisher

Bulg. Academy of Science

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Stať ve sborníku

Field of Study

10600 1.6 Biological sciences

Country of publisher

Bulgaria

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14310/06:00015827

Organization unit

Faculty of Science

Keywords in English

classification; stability; diagnostic species
Změněno: 2/1/2007 17:38, Mgr. Zdenka Preislerová, Ph.D.

Abstract

V originále

Plot sizes recommended for phytosociological sampling vary by several orders of magnitude. Even within a vegetation type, differences between plot sizes used by phytosociologists are often considerable. Still, the effect of plot size on the classification of vegetation remains obscure. We tested the effect of plot size and various transformations of plant cover values on results of cluster analyses in species-rich grasslands in southern Moravia (Czech Republic). Data from 21 plots, each consisting of five nested subplots ranging from 1 to 49 m2 in size (105 plots in total), were classified using the Ward's method of clustering, separately for each plot size. Significance of the resulting clusters was evaluated by bootstrap resampling developed by Pillar (1999). The clusters were compared across plot sizes using species fidelity. Five significant clusters were found for plots 4 to 49 m2 in size, with the same assignment of relevés to individual clusters among the classifications. By contrast, only two significant clusters were obtained at the smallest scale (1 m2). The number of species with high fidelity values increased with increasing plot size. The number of significant clusters and assignment of individual relevés was more substantially affected by different transformations of plant cover values. If the original ordinal data were transformed to percentages or to presence-absence data, the number of significant clusters decreased to two, independently of plot size. Our results suggest that plot sizes ordinarily used by phytosociologists in grasslands affect the shape of the classification trees only little, unless extremely small plot sizes are combined with larger ones. In contrast, various transformations of plant cover (and presumably also biased estimates of plant cover) may affect results of the classifications considerably.

In Czech

Velikost plochy ovlivňuje počet stabilních shluků v klasifikaci a počet diagnostických druhů. Ordinální transformace tlumí vliv velikosti.

Links

GA206/05/0020, research and development project
Name: Vegetace České republiky: formalizovaná typizace, monografie a expertní systém
Investor: Czech Science Foundation, Vegetation of the Czech Republic: formalized typology, monograph and expert system
MSM0021622416, plan (intention)
Name: Diverzita biotických společenstev a populací: kauzální analýza variability v prostoru a čase
Investor: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the CR, Diversity of Biotic Communities and Populations: Causal Analysis of variation in space and time