Method
Quadrats can be used to measure density, frequency, cover or biomass. They are used to define sample areas within the study area and are usually four strips of wood, metal or rigid plastic, which are fixed together to form a square. It can be useful to use bolts so that the quadrat can be dismantledforstorageortransport.Foraquaticmacrophytesawoodorplasticframewillfloatand can be used to sample floating or emergent vegetation on the water surface. For large quadrats, over 4 m2,aframewillbeunwieldyandasanalternativeyoucouldmeasureoutthequadratusing tape measures, folding rulers or string. Corners are marked by posts and it is important to keep a constant quadrat shape, for example by using a set-square to measure out right-angles. Although a square is often used, the quadrat shape is unimportant as long as you keep the shape constant and know its area. For certain purposes the quadrat can be divided into a grid of equal-sized squares using regularly spaced lengths of string or wire.
Differentvegetationtypesrequiredifferentquadratsizes.Vegetationwithsmallerplants,greater plant density or greater species diversity should require smaller quadrats. The sizes most often used are 0.01–0.25 m2 for bryophyte, lichen and algal communities (for instance, on rocks or tree bark), 0.25–16 m2 for grassland, tall-herb, short-shrub and aquatic-macrophyte communities, 25– 100 m2 for tall-shrub communities and 400–2500 m2 for trees in woods and forests. Different quadrat sizes can be used to survey different vegetation types within a study area, such as the understorey layer and canopy layer in a forest. To get a good estimate of species’ abundances multiple quadrats should be used in each study area according to your sampling design and various measures can be used to survey the vegetation (see Figure 4.1).
Density is measured by counting the number of individuals of each species within the quadrat. Many plants will lie on the edge of the quadrat and for this and other measures you must decide whichtoclassifyasinsidethequadrat.Oftenonlytheplantsrootedwithinthequadratarecounted.
Cover can be measured by estimating visually the proportion of the quadrat occupied by each species (i.e. the vertical projection of each plant; see above). Various measures can be used. You can estimate cover to the nearest per cent (or less), but this might give a spurious accuracy, given the problems of estimating cover (see below). It may be more sensible to use percentage classes, e.g. in 10% or 25% steps, or use those given in the Domin or Braun–Blanquet scales (Table 4.2). You may find it useful to divide the vegetation into layers, e.g. a bryophyte layer, a herb layer and a shrub layer, and make cover estimates separately for each layer.
Frequency can be measured in two ways. One is to use the quadrat as the sampling unit. A large number of quadrats is placed in the study area and the proportion of quadrats containing the species is counted. The abundance of the species in the quadrat is ignored. A more local measure of frequency can be derived if the quadrat is subdivided into a grid and the percentage of grid squares containing the species is calculated. Local frequency is often used at points on a transect or where only a few quadrats can be used.
Biomass of species can be measured by cutting all the above-ground parts of the plants in the quadrat at a certain height from the surface of the substrate, usually at or close to ground-level. Root harvesting (below-ground biomass) is too difficult and error-ridden to consider seriously.