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On sampling procedures in population and community ecology

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Abstract

In this paper we emphasize that sampling decisions in population and community ecology are context dependent. Thus, the selection of an appropriate sampling procedure should follow directly from considerations of the objectives of an investigation. We recognize eight sampling alternatives, which arise as a result of three basic dichotomies: parameter estimation versus pattern detection, univariate versus multivariate, and a discrete versus continuous sampling universe. These eight alternative sampling procedures are discussed as they relate to decisions regarding the required empirical sample size, the selection or arrangement of sampling units, and plot size and shape. Our results indicate that the decision-making process in sampling must be viewed as a flexible exercise, dictated not by generalized recommendations but by specific objectives: there is no panacea in ecological sampling. We also point to a number of unresolved sampling problems in ecology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University of Manitoba, R3T 2N2, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

    N. C. Kenkel

  2. Department of Plant Ecology and Taxonomy, L. Eötvös University, Kun Béla tér2, H-1083, Budapest, Hungary

    P. Juhász-Nagy & J. Podani

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  1. N. C. Kenkel
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Kenkel, N.C., Juhász-Nagy, P. & Podani, J. On sampling procedures in population and community ecology. Vegetatio 83, 195–207 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00031692

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