Green Global
Foundation   Journal
...an emerging window for scientific research and publication across the globe

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION PATTERN OF PLANTS IN A SIMULATED GRASSLAND COLONY (Pages : 35 - 43)

The spatial heterogeneity of plants influences the ecology of plant communities. This paper examines the spatial distribution pattern of plants in a simulated grassland colony. A circular quadrat sampling method was used to construct the colony. Edge problems arose because circular quadrats were placed randomly in a square area. We developed a simple mathematical correction to eliminate the shortcomings of the edge effect of the circular colony. Spatial heterogeneity of binary characteristics such as occurrence or non-occurrence of plants was studied. We addressed the heterogeneity of within and between sampling units. Binomial distribution (BD) and beta-binomial distribution (BBD) were used to represent the spatial pattern within and between sampling units. The BBD described the frequency distribution of the occurrence of plants aggregated between sampling units more accurately than the BD. It was found that the heterogeneity within a colony is of an under-dispersion type. Therefore, the required number of sampling units to achieve a level of accuracy of 20% variation was determined.Download