COURSE TITLE: ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL BIOLOGY

Course No.:PSBOTC305
Module 3.2
Qualitative methods of studying plant communities, disturbance and diversity stability
relationships

Dr. Harish Chander Dutt

Assistant Professor
Ecological Engineering Lab.
Department of Botany
University of Jammu, Jammu-180006
India
Tel: 0191-2435248, 59 Ext 2678
Mobile: +91-99-060-73604
Official email ID: [email protected]
ORCID id : https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6117-2680
 Community analysis (Analytic and Synthetic characters)

Quantitative They are expressed in

quantitative terms. They are
Frequency
measured. The major
Density quantitative characters
They are directly Abundance include frequency, diversity,
observed or Cover = Basal Area cover, biomass, leaf size,
measured in Dominance abundance, dominance, etc.
sample plots. They
include kinds and Analytic
number of species,
distribution of They are based on
individuals, number
Qualitative non-quantitative
of individuals, Physiognomy observations, e.g.,
height of plants, Phenology (Phenograms) species
etc. Stratification composition and
Abundance stratification of
Sociability vegetation. They
Vitality are expressed only
in qualitative way.
Quantitative
Frequency It represents the occurrence and distribution of species in a community and is calculated as:
No.of quadrats in which species occured
%Frequency = x 100
Total number of quadrats studied

Density It represents the number of individuals of a species per sampling unit and is calculated as:

Total number of individuals in all quadrats

Density =
Total number of quadrats studied

Basal area: It refers to the ground actually occupied by the stem and is calculated as:

(𝑐𝑏ℎ)2
Basal area = , where, cgh= circumference at breast height.
4𝜋
Dominance : Degree to which a taxon is more numerous than its competitors in an ecological
community/ Generally calculated as relative dominance

Abundance of one species

Relative dominance = x 100
Total Abundance of all species
Qualitative
Physiognomy is a stand level parameter.
The overall size and shape of an organism. Descriptions such as 'trees', 'shrubs', and
'herbs' are frequently used to characterize the general appearance of the vegetation of a
region.
Qualitative
Phenology (Phenograms) LIFE CYCLE EVENTS
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Tulipa stelleta
Qualitative
Stratification The vertical distribution of different species
occupying different levels in an ecosystem is
called stratification. Trees occupy the topmost vertical layer of a
forest, shrubs occupy the second layer and herbs and grasses
occupy the bottommost or base layers.
Qualitative
Abundance is the relative representation of a species in a particular ecosystem. It is usually
measured as the number of individuals found per sample. (SPECIES LEVEL
PARAMETER)

a) Very Rare
b) Rare
c) Common
d) Frequent
e) Very much frequent
Qualitative
Sociability

a) S1 = plants separated from each other

b) S2 = plants in groups of 4-6
c) S3 = Plants in small groups
d) S4 = Plants in several bigger groups
e) S5 = In a large group
Qualitative
Vitality

a) V1 = Plants in which seedlings dies

b) V2 = Plants in which seedlings grow but do not reproduce
c) V3 = Plants reproduce vegetatively
d) V4 = Plants reproduce sexually (uncommon)
e) V5 = Plants reproduce sexually (common)
Qualitative
Life forms
Synthetic Characters:
These are determined after computing the data on the quantitative and quantitative characters of the
community.

For comparing the vegetation of different areas, community comparison needs the calculation of their
synthetic characters.

These are determined in terms of presence and Constance, fidelity, etc.

1. Presence and Constance:

It expresses the extent of occurrence of the individuals of a particular species in
the community.

Rare 1 to 20 % of sampling units

Seldom present 21 to 40 % of sampling unit
Often present 41 to 60 %
Mostly present 61 to 80 %
Constantly present 81 to 100%
2. Fidelity:
This is the degree with which a species is restricted in distribution to one kind of
community. Such species are sometimes known as indicators.

Fidelity 1 : Plants appear accidently

Fidelity 2 : Indifferent plants may occur in any community
Fidelity 3 : Occurs in many community but predominate in one (preferents)
Fidelity 4 : Specially in one community but may occasionally occur in other as
well (Selective)
Fidelity 5 : Show Dominance (high IVI)
3. Dominance:
Here, the dominance is expressed in synthetic form. On the basis of density,
frequency and dominance (cover) values; there has been proposed idea of
Importance Value Index (IVI). IVI of a species in the community give the idea
of its relative importance. For IVI, values of Relative density.

4. Relative values of density, frequency and abundance

Disturbance and diversity-stability relationships
 The intermediate disturbance hypothesis (IDH)
(A) Species diversity is low at low disturbance frequency because of competitive exclusion.
(B) Species diversity is higher at intermediate disturbance frequency due to a mix of good
colonizer and good competitor species. (C) Species diversity is low at high disturbance
frequency because only good colonizers or highly tolerant species can persist.

Credit : https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/disturbance-and-diversity-an-ecological-chicken-and-
13256228/#:~:text=Disturbance%20Affects%20Species%20Diversity&text=(A)%20Species%20diversity%20is%20low,c
olonizer%20and%20good%20competitor%20species.
Credit: https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/biodiversity-and-
ecosystem-stability-17059965/
 EXPLANATION
Each rectangle represents a plant community containing individuals of either
blue or green species and the total number of individuals corresponds to the
productivity of the ecosystem. Green species increase in abundance in warm
years, whereas blue species increase in abundance in cold years such that a
community containing only blue or green species will fluctuate in biomass
when there is inter annual climate variability. In contrast, in the community
containing both green and blue individuals, the decrease in one species is
compensated for by an increase in the other species, thus creating stability in
ecosystem productivity between years. Note also that, on average, the diverse
community exhibits higher productivity than either single-species community.
This pattern could occur if blue or green species are active at slightly different
times, such that competition between the two species is reduced. This
difference in when species are active leads to complimentary resource
utilization and can increase total productivity of the ecosystem.
Credit: https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/biodiversity-and-
ecosystem-stability-17059965/
Credit: https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/biodiversity-and-
ecosystem-stability-17059965/
 EXPLANATION

Simple communities are represented by a box; in this case, these

communities are so small that they can only contain 3 individuals. For
example, this could be the case for a small pocket of soil on a rocky
hillslope. There are 3 potential species that can colonize these communities
— blue, dark green, and light green — and for the sake of this example let’s
assume that the blue species has traits that allow it to survive prolonged
drought. Looking at all possible combinations of communities containing 1, 2
or 3 species, we see that, as the number of species goes up, the probability
of containing the blue species also goes up. Thus, if hillslopes in this region
were to experience a prolonged drought, the more diverse communities
would be more likely to maintain primary productivity, because of the
increased probability of having the blue species present.

Credit: https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/biodiversity-and-
ecosystem-stability-17059965/