Vegetation Sampling + Analysis Exam

9/18/25 (Thursday)

Perennial

regrows annually from surviving root structures + can be herbaceous or woody

Annual

regrows from seed when conditions are favorable

Herbaceous

aboveground plant tissues die back each year (no wood)

Woody

produce persistent wood tissue + lignin rich vascular tissues

Forbes

herbaceous with broad leaves

Grasses

herbaceous with elongated leaves

Deciduous

lose leaves annually when they are unnecessary

Evergreen

retains leaves year-round

Coniferous

non-flowering + bear seeds within cones + needle-shaped leaves + most are evergreen

Hardwood

wood has vessels + broad-leaf angiosperms

Softwood

xylem only contains tracheids not vessels

Shrub

woody perennial with multiple stems + max 6-10 ft

Vegetation

all plant species in region and the way they are spatially or temporally distributed

Formation

vegetation type that extends over large region (ex. tropical rainforest)

Associations (Community Types)

subdivided formations described by dominant species

Evolutionary Timeline

1. ancestral green algae - start

2. nonvascular plants (mosses, liverworts, hornworts) - above

3. first vascular plants - below

4. first seed plants - below

5. vascular plants (nonseed + seed plants) - above

6. nonseed plants (ferns) - above

7. seed plants (conifers + flowering plants) - above

Polypodiacea

fern family

Pinacea

pine family

Fagacea

beech family

Presence / Absence

is the organism there or not

Count / Density

how many are there

Biomass

how much does the organism weigh

Cover

how much surface ground is covered

Structure

height or arrangement of plants

Cover Frequency Method

traditional visual estimate in plots or quadrats

Line-Intercept Method

% of a transect occupied by a species

Point-Intercept Method

counts of species at points along transect

Pros + Cons of Cover

pro - resource use, dominance

con - not accurate, time-consuming

Density

number of individuals of a species / unit area

Relative Density

number of individuals of species / total number of individuals x 100

Pros + Cons of Density

pro - less affected by seasonality, year-to-year observations, population status and distribution

con - time-consuming, no indication of health or productivity, can’t always count individuals

Pros + Cons of Frequency

pro - fast, large-scale distribution, easy for measurements

con - no health or dominance data, no spatial distribution, no mean population densities

Frequency

number of plots where species occur / total number of plots x 100

Gross Primary Production (GPP)

total amount of photosynthesis

Net Primary Production

amount of carbon leftover for growth or productivity

SubKingdom Bryophytes (Non-Vascular), Bryophyta

moss

SubKingdom Tracheophytes (Vascular), Pteridophyta, Non-Seed

fern

SubKingdom Tracheophytes (Vascular), Lycopodiphyta, Non-Seed

clubmoss

Subkingdom Tracheophytes (Vascular), Seed Vascular Plant SuperDivision

Spermatophytes

Subkingdom Tracheophytes (Vascular), Seed Vascular, Pinophyta

conifers

Subkingdom Tracheophyta (Vascular), Seed Vascular, Magnoliophyta

flowering plants

Raunkiaer’s Classification System

1 and 2 - hydrophytes

3 - halophytes

4 and 5 - crytophytes or geophytes

6 - hemicryptophytes

7 and 8 - chamaephytes

9 - phanerophytes

10 - therophytes

Hydr- Meaning

water plants

Helo- Meaning

winter buds under water / flowering plants above water

Geof- Meaning

winter buds below ground

Hemi- Meaning

winter buds above or just below ground

Cham- Meaning

winter buds up to 50 cm above ground

Phan- Meaning

winter buds at least 50 cm above ground (trees and shrubs)

Allocation

relative biomass / production

most growth to tissues that will maximize capture of limiting resources

annual plant biomass

entire plant biomass at end of growing season weighed dry

perennial plant biomass

apical and secondary growth (DBH)

Allometry

scaling relationships between size of organisms and their relationship as a whole

Monocot

1 cotyledon, fibrous root, scattered vascular, parallel leaf veins, flower multiples of 3

Dicot

2 cotyledon, tap roots, ringed vascular, net-like veins, flower multiples of 4 or 5

Life Forms Found in Wet-Tropical

Phanerophytes + Chamaephytes

Life Forms Found in Hot Desert

Phanerophytes, Chamaephytes, Hemicryptophytes, Cryptophytes, Therophytes

Life Forms Found in Tundra

Chamaephytes, Hemicryptophytes, Cryptophytes, Therophytes

Lake Chad Example

reduced rainfall, increased evaporation, unsustainable use by humans has diminished the lake severely

African Monsoon Example

seasonal wind direction, deforestation lead to low-pressure and warm temperatures, carries water from coastal rainforests to desert latitudes

Plant Classifications

growth forms, taxonomic systems, life forms

Ther- Meaning

annuals, grow from seeds

Uniform Dispersal

interference competition / human impacts

Random Dispersal

ecological factors (wind, water, animals, birds, insects)

Clumped Dispersal

resource competition and little ability to disperse

Species Richness

number of species

Species Evenness

how similar (or even) a species is in relative abundance

Species Diversity

multiple indexes that factor richness + evenness

Magnoliophyta Classes

Monocot (grasses) or Dicot (2/3)