Definition of sampling units begets conclusions in ecology: the case of habitats for plant communities
In ecology, expert knowledge on habitat characteristics is often used to define sampling units such as study sites. Ecologists are especially prone to such approaches when prior sampling frames are not accessible. Here we ask to what extent can different approaches to the definition of sampling unit...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:4358653 2023-05-15T18:40:42+02:00 Definition of sampling units begets conclusions in ecology: the case of habitats for plant communities Mörsdorf, Martin A. Ravolainen, Virve T. Støvern, Leif Einar Yoccoz, Nigel G. Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Svala Bråthen, Kari Anne 2015-03-05 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4358653 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25780767 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.815 en eng PeerJ Inc. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25780767 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.815 © 2015 Mörsdorf et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. CC-BY Biodiversity Text 2015 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.815 2015-03-22T01:05:22Z In ecology, expert knowledge on habitat characteristics is often used to define sampling units such as study sites. Ecologists are especially prone to such approaches when prior sampling frames are not accessible. Here we ask to what extent can different approaches to the definition of sampling units influence the conclusions that are drawn from an ecological study? We do this by comparing a formal versus a subjective definition of sampling units within a study design which is based on well-articulated objectives and proper methodology. Both approaches are applied to tundra plant communities in mesic and snowbed habitats. For the formal approach, sampling units were first defined for each habitat in concave terrain of suitable slope using GIS. In the field, these units were only accepted as the targeted habitats if additional criteria for vegetation cover were fulfilled. For the subjective approach, sampling units were defined visually in the field, based on typical plant communities of mesic and snowbed habitats. For each approach, we collected information about plant community characteristics within a total of 11 mesic and seven snowbed units distributed between two herding districts of contrasting reindeer density. Results from the two approaches differed significantly in several plant community characteristics in both mesic and snowbed habitats. Furthermore, differences between the two approaches were not consistent because their magnitude and direction differed both between the two habitats and the two reindeer herding districts. Consequently, we could draw different conclusions on how plant diversity and relative abundance of functional groups are differentiated between the two habitats depending on the approach used. We therefore challenge ecologists to formalize the expert knowledge applied to define sampling units through a set of well-articulated rules, rather than applying it subjectively. We see this as instrumental for progress in ecology as only rules based on expert knowledge are transparent and ... Text Tundra PubMed Central (PMC) PeerJ 3 e815 |
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Biodiversity Mörsdorf, Martin A. Ravolainen, Virve T. Støvern, Leif Einar Yoccoz, Nigel G. Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Svala Bråthen, Kari Anne Definition of sampling units begets conclusions in ecology: the case of habitats for plant communities |
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Biodiversity |
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In ecology, expert knowledge on habitat characteristics is often used to define sampling units such as study sites. Ecologists are especially prone to such approaches when prior sampling frames are not accessible. Here we ask to what extent can different approaches to the definition of sampling units influence the conclusions that are drawn from an ecological study? We do this by comparing a formal versus a subjective definition of sampling units within a study design which is based on well-articulated objectives and proper methodology. Both approaches are applied to tundra plant communities in mesic and snowbed habitats. For the formal approach, sampling units were first defined for each habitat in concave terrain of suitable slope using GIS. In the field, these units were only accepted as the targeted habitats if additional criteria for vegetation cover were fulfilled. For the subjective approach, sampling units were defined visually in the field, based on typical plant communities of mesic and snowbed habitats. For each approach, we collected information about plant community characteristics within a total of 11 mesic and seven snowbed units distributed between two herding districts of contrasting reindeer density. Results from the two approaches differed significantly in several plant community characteristics in both mesic and snowbed habitats. Furthermore, differences between the two approaches were not consistent because their magnitude and direction differed both between the two habitats and the two reindeer herding districts. Consequently, we could draw different conclusions on how plant diversity and relative abundance of functional groups are differentiated between the two habitats depending on the approach used. We therefore challenge ecologists to formalize the expert knowledge applied to define sampling units through a set of well-articulated rules, rather than applying it subjectively. We see this as instrumental for progress in ecology as only rules based on expert knowledge are transparent and ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Mörsdorf, Martin A. Ravolainen, Virve T. Støvern, Leif Einar Yoccoz, Nigel G. Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Svala Bråthen, Kari Anne |
author_facet |
Mörsdorf, Martin A. Ravolainen, Virve T. Støvern, Leif Einar Yoccoz, Nigel G. Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Svala Bråthen, Kari Anne |
author_sort |
Mörsdorf, Martin A. |
title |
Definition of sampling units begets conclusions in ecology: the case of habitats for plant communities |
title_short |
Definition of sampling units begets conclusions in ecology: the case of habitats for plant communities |
title_full |
Definition of sampling units begets conclusions in ecology: the case of habitats for plant communities |
title_fullStr |
Definition of sampling units begets conclusions in ecology: the case of habitats for plant communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Definition of sampling units begets conclusions in ecology: the case of habitats for plant communities |
title_sort |
definition of sampling units begets conclusions in ecology: the case of habitats for plant communities |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4358653 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25780767 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.815 |
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Tundra |
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Tundra |
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25780767 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.815 |
op_rights |
© 2015 Mörsdorf et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. |
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CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.815 |
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e815 |
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