Dear,
I am interested in vegetation structure study, especially, herbaceous plants communities.
I would like to find the Family Importance value for herbaceous plants family. however, most of the paper I see in literature, concerned megaphanerophyte plant. Is it possible to use the same formula for herbaceous plants?
Thank you very much for your help
More or less the formulas are the same both for large plant species as small, my friend,although the resulting values will be smaller than the values obtained for a tree.
Here is a manual where you can see different sampling designs, some parameters for measuring vegetation, etc.
The text is in Spanish. I hope you will be useful.
http://www.bio-nica.info/biblioteca/Mostacedo2000EcologiaVegetal.pdf
FIV can be calculated for herbaceous plant families. The following reference will be useful to you.
(Ref.: Mori, S.A., B.M. Boom, A.M. Carvalho and T.S. Dos Santos (1983) Southern Bahian moist forests. Bot. Rev. 49: 155-232).
FIV=Relative frequency + Relative density (f) + Relative dominance (f)
Any relative value can be calculated by using the formula
Relative Value =
Quantitative value of a species/ Quantitative value of all the species x 100 (Density or Frequency or Basal area)
In case of basal area method differs. In case of trees we use to measure girth/diameter. In case of herbs on average of 100 herbaceous stems diameter has to be measured by using vernier calipers to calculate basal area and them relative dominance.
Dear Evans,
It depends which parameters you use for calculating IVI. If you are using Relative density (RDE), relative dominance (RDO) and Relative frequency (RFR) measurements for IVI calculation (IVI = RDE+RDO+RFR), then you will be in trouble measuring the basal area of herbaceous species as relative dominance is computed from the DBH/DSH measurements of individuals of species. However, Boyina's answer looks fine for herbs although the measurement looks an estimate. That is why woody species are most widely used for such analysis. The other two parameters could be measured for herbs as well.
Good luck!
It can be based on number of genera, species, total importance value or even density of component species within a family.
Hello. I know that this is an old discussion but I am still hoping for answers. How do you measure dominance in epiphytes, i.e., plants that are not standing on the ground?
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