TY - JOUR
AU - Goodall, David W.
AB -  Plant ecology is concerned essentially with desc ribing and exp laining the spatial distribution of plant material. Until the early years of this century, ec ol ogists were co ntent with verbal descriptions and an intuitive interpretar tion. At that time, however, the need for supplementing v erbal descript ions with quantitative values came to be felt. Concurrently, statistical methods were beginning to be applied to scientific observa ti ons, and their suitability for interpreting the highl y variable quan titative data of plant ecology was reco gniz ed. Thus arose the study of statis tical pl ant ecology, often regard ed almost as a distinct discipline. It is, however, no more than the applica tion of a particular set of methods and ways of thought to purposes and materi­ al which are shared with the whole of plant ecology. S tatistical techniques have three main functions. The fi rst consists of red ucing a complex mass of data to a simpler form in order to facilitate its examinat ion. A model, rec ognize d or unrec ogniz ed, will usually underlie this, and the selection of the model may often mould the summary and the conclusions drawn 
TI - Statistical Plant Ecology
JF - Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics
DO - 10.1146/annurev.es.01.110170.000531
DA - 1970-11-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/annual-reviews/statistical-plant-ecology-FCTp9pOInh
SP - 99
EP - 124
VL - 1
IS - 1
DP - DeepDyve
ER -