Community Ecology
Volume/Issue:
Volume 12: Issue 2
Sampling precision and variability of tree species abundance ranks in a semideciduous Atlantic forest fragment
Authors:
R. Cielo-Filho University of Campinas — UNICAMP Plant Biology Graduate Course, Institute of Biology P.O.Box 6109 13083-970 Campinas, SP Brazil

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M. Gneri University of Campinas — UNICAMP Department of Statistics, Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science P.O. Box 6065 13083-970 Campinas, SP Brazil

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F. Martins University of Campinas — UNICAMP Plant Biology Graduate Course, Institute of Biology P.O.Box 6109 13083-970 Campinas, SP Brazil

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Pages:
188–195
Online Publication Date:
17 Nov 2011
Publication Date:
01 Dec 2011
Article Category:
Journal Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/comec.12.2011.2.6
Keywords:
Resampling; Sampling methods; Tropical forests; Vegetation data
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Among other objectives, forest inventories are aimed to identify ecological communities and to correlate community composition with environmental variables. The identification of different communities would require several forest inventories, each covering small sampling areas with relatively homogeneous environmental conditions. The multiple plot sampling method, traditionally used in local inventories of tropical forests, cannot assure such homogeneity, since even small sampling areas would show environmental heterogeneity influencing vegetation. In this paper we assessed the consequences of this heterogeneity for sampling by quantifying the variability of species abundance ranks for species sampled with 10 or more individuals in a set of plots covering a small sampling area. The species reference abundance ranks were obtained from a sample of 100 plots of 10 m × 10 m each randomly set in a sampling area of 6.5 ha in a tropical forest fragment (Southeastern Brazil). For each species we used resamplings (30 trials) to obtain the species abundance ranks in sub-samples, considering different sampling intensities (n = 25, 50 and 75 plots), and compared these ranks with the species reference rank (n = 100 plots). Then, we compared the species ranks in sub-samples of 50 plots (10.000 trials) with the reference rank and assessed the frequency and extent of rank displacements. Species rank was highly variable across resampling trials for the sampling intensities of n = 25 and n = 50, but decreased considerable with a sampling intensity of n = 75 plots. The mean rank variability and especially the maximum displacement raised significantly from the seventh most abundant species on, and some species occupied quite discrepant abundance ranks in up to 10% of the 10.000 resampling trials. This high internal variability of forest samples may impair the search for floristic patterns as scale lessens, say, to the meso-scale (1–100 km2). We discussed some possible ways to increase internal homogeneity of tropical forest samples with the multiple plot sampling method. Among these, objective entitation, based on an ancient phytosociological procedure, is suggested as the most appropriate for use on the hilly relieves of the Atlantic forest biome.

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Cover Community Ecology
Community Ecology An Interdisciplinary Journal Reporting Progress in Community and Population Studies
Print ISSN:
1585-8553
Online ISSN:
1588-2756

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Community Ecology
Language English
Size A4
Year of
Foundation		 2000
Volumes
per Year		 1
Issues
per Year		 3
Founder Akadémiai Kiadó
Founder's
Address		 H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Publisher's
Address		 H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
CH-6330 Cham, Switzerland Gewerbestrasse 11.
Responsible
Publisher		 Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 1585-8553 (Print)
ISSN 1588-2756 (Online)

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