Vegetation Description and Data Analysis: A Practical Approach

Vegetation Description and Data Analysis: A Practical Approach, second edition is a fully revised and up–dated edition of this key text. The book takes account of recent advances in the field whilst retaining the original reader–friendly approach to the coverage of vegetation description and multivariate analysis in the context of vegetation data and plant ecology.

Since the publication of the hugely popular first edition there have been significant developments in computer hardware and software, new key journals have been established in the field and scope and application of vegetation description and analysis has become a truly global field.
This new edition includes full coverage of new developments and technologies.

This contemporary and comprehensive edition of this well–known and respected textbook will prove invaluable to undergraduate and graduate students in biological sciences, environmental science, geography, botany, agriculture, forestry and biological conservation.

Fully international approach Illustrative case studies used throughout Now with new material including: the nature of plant communities; induction and deduction in plant ecology; the potential relevance of Bayesian statistical analysis; recent advances in methods of ordination and classification (cluster analysis) and links to spatial analysis; a comprehensive and up–to–date review of the wide range of computer software now available; the increasing importance of R–related software Accessible, reader–friendly style Now with new and improved illustrations

Preface to the second edition ix

Acknowledgements xi

Safety in the field xiii

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

Chapter 2 Environmental gradients, plant communities and vegetation dynamics 23

Chapter 3 The description of vegetation in the field 49

Chapter 4 The nature and properties of vegetation data 101

Chapter 5 Basic statistical methods for understanding multivariate analysis 139

Chapter 6 Ordination methods 171

Chapter 7 Phytosociology and the Zürich–Montpellier (Braun–Blanquet) School of subjective classification 273

Chapter 8 Numerical classification, cluster analysis and phytosociology 307

Chapter 9 Computer software for the analysis of vegetation and environmental/biotic data 359

Chapter 10 Future developments in vegetation science and quantitative plant ecology 369

References 371

Index 403

Martin Kemp is the Emeritus Professor of Biogeography, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Plymouth, Devon, UK. His website can be found here: http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/mkent