Vegetation Description and Data Analysis

Vegetation Description and Data Analysis: A PracticalApproach, Second Edition is a fully revised and up-datededition of this key text. The book takes account of recent advancesin the field whilst retaining the original reader-friendly approachto the coverage of vegetation description and multivariate analysisin the context of vegetation data and plant ecology.

Since the publication of the hugely popular first edition therehave been significant developments in computer hardware andsoftware, new key journals have been established in the field andscope and application of vegetation description and analysis hasbecome a truly global field. This new edition includes fullcoverage of new developments and technologies.
This contemporary and comprehensive edition of this well-known andrespected textbook will prove invaluable to undergraduate andgraduate students in biological sciences, environmental science,geography, botany, agriculture, forestry and biologicalconservation.
* Fully international approach
* Includes illustrative case studies throughout
* Now with new material on: the nature of plant communities;transitional areas between plant communities; induction anddeduction of plant ecology; diversity indices and dominancediversity curves; multivariate analysis in ecology.
* 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 andvegetation science 1

Chapter 2 Environmental gradients, plant communities andvegetation 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 understandingmultivariate 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 andphytosociology 307

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

Chapter 10 Future developments in vegetation science andquantitative 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 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