A computer aid for the preparation of Braun-blanquet tables

Van der Meulen, F.; Morris, J.; Westfall, R.

While processing the releve data of a vegetation survey according to the Braun-Blanquet approach (Westhoff & Van der Maarel 1983, Werger 1974) one of us (FvdM) had to manipulae a matrix of about 500 releves and over 1000 species (Van der meulen 1979). As efficient manipulation by traditional methods was clearly impractical, a non-clustering computer program package was developed for sequencing and pringing releves and species in orders speciefied by the user. In this respect, the program differs from computer-assisted table re-arrangement programs such as those of Benninghof & Southworth (1964), Ceska & Roemer (1971),Stockinger & Holzner (1972),Moor (1972), Spatz & Siegmund (1973), Lieth et al. (1973), Holzner et al. (1978) and others. The program not only sequences releves and species but also prints phytosociological tables with a separate list of infrequent companion species. Coded habitat data may accompany the table in a heading as a means of confirming the table's pattern. The program can also calculate constancy values and print constancy or synoptic tables for the comparison of species distributions over more than one table. Because of the organization of syntaxa into a hierachic system is still under development in South Africa (Werger 1977), easily made synoptic tables are an important aid in phytosociological research in South Africa. The whole printout is suitable for direct reproduction without further checking, retyping, or typesetting. The program package is written in FORTRAN IV and is used on a large Burroughs B7700 computer. Listings of the programs are available upon request from the authors.

A computer aid for the preparation of Braun-blanquet tables

Series