In this article we will discuss about the study of community structure. A "vegetation is the sum total of plants covering an area" (Weaver and Clements, 1966) which generally consists of a number of communities. According to Benton and Werner (1974) "a biological community consists of all the organisms living together in an interrelated fashion in a given environment". Biological [...]
The following points highlight the five methods of sampling plant communities. The methods are: 1. Transect Method 2. Bisect 3. Trisect 4. Ring Counts 5. Quadrat Method. 1. Transect Method: When the vegetation is to be studied along an environmental gradient or eco-tone (e.g. tropical to temperate, high or low rainfall areas or precipitation gradient, adjacent areas with different types [...]
The plant community can be studied for its different analytic and synthetic characters. I. Analytical Characters: The following qualitative and quantitative characteristics of a plant community constitute its analytic character: A. Qualitative Structure of Plant Community: The qualitative composition and structure of the plant community can be studied and described by visual observations only without using any sampling or measuring [...]