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BOTA 312: PLANT ECOLOGY II

WEEK 6 LECTURE: ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PLANT

COMMUNITIES CONT.

(B) Synthetic characteristics

Characters derived from the measurements of analytical characters are called synthetic
characters. These reflect the pattern of distribution and performance of different species
(describe the make-up of a community). The chief synthetic characters used and
advocated by Braun- Blanquet are fidelity, presence and constance.

(a) Fidelity – the term refers to the faithfulness of a species to its community. In the
community, there are different types of species. Some plants are confined to one
particular community and they are called indicator species. Some can flourish in several
communities.
There fidelity is an indication of the degree with which a species is restricted to a
particular kind of community (faithfulness). According to Hanson (1950), fidelity is a
measure of ecological amplitude. Characteristic species with high fidelity value has low
ecological amplitude. Ecological amplitude of a species or its tolerance is the capacity
of growing and reproducing within a certain range of environmental conditions.
Fidelity of a species is expressed in relation to a particular community. A species may
have high fidelity for one community and a low fidelity for another.
- Braun-Blanquet (1951) recognised the following classes of species on the basis of
their fidelity:

Class
F5 - Exclusive species completely or almost completely confined to one community
F 4- Selective species, found most frequently in a certain community, but also rarely
in other communities.
F3 - Preferential species, present in several communities more or less abundantly but
predominantly in one certain community and there with a greater degree of
vigour.
F2 - Indifferent species, without any definite affinity for any particular community.
F1 - Accidentals, species that are rare and accidental intruders from another
community.
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Species of 3rd, 4th and 5th fidelity classes are called characteristic or key species of the
community.

The table below is composed of 3 communities. Indicate: Accidental, Exclusive and

indifferent species.

Releves Community A Community B Community C Life

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Form
Sp 1 3 1 4 4 4 3 3 1 3 2 G
Sp 2 2 + 3 + 2 + 1 - - - P
Sp 3 + - - - - - - - - - H
Sp 4 1 4 1 2 - - - - + - G
Sp 5 3 2 2 3 - - - 4 3 2 T
Sp 6 + - + 1 3 - + 2 4 1 H
Sp 7 - - - - 4 4 2 3 2 4 G
Sp 8 - - - - 3 3 4 - - - T

(b) Presence
- Presence refers to the degree of regularity with which a species occurs in
stands/communities observed. It is the percentage of all stands/communities
that contain a given species. For example if species A occurs in 8 out of 10 stands
observed, the species has 80% presence.

Presence Classes

Class
1: Rare; in 1-20% of stands sampled
2: Seldom present; in 21-40% of stands sampled
3. Often present; in 41-60% of stands sampled
4: Mostly present; in 61-80% of stands sampled
5: Constantly present; in 81-100% of stands observed
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(c) Constancy (C)

- It is the percentage of the number of releves/quadrats in which a given species
occurs. It is calculated by counting the number of times each species is present in the
entire releve series (X), divide this by total number of releves (Y) and multiply by 100.

C = X/Y × 100.

There are five constancy classes designated by Roman Numerals.

Class
I = Upto 20% constancy
II = 20.1-40% constancy
III = 40.1-60% constancy
IV = 60.1-80% constancy
V = 80.1-100% constancy

(c) Community Coefficient (C.C) (similarity indices)

- It is the expression of the similarity between any two stands/communities in a
single number.
- When comparing two communities of vegetation of two regions, a similarity
mathematical expression of similarity of list of species is useful.
- Similarity indices measure the degree to which the species composition of
quadrats/samples/communities is alike. It a community X is to be compared with
community Y, then the number of species common to both, expressed as a
percentage of the total number of species in X + Y has been termed as Community
Coefficient (similarity index)
- A community coefficient of 100 represents identity while that of zero represents a
complete different community.
- There are several ways to calculate the community coefficient but basically all the
formulae indicate the number of species shared by the two study areas.

Example: Jaccard Community Coefficient (similarity index)

a
SJ   100
abc

Where: Sj = Jaccard Similarity Coefficient

a = number of species common to both quadrats/samples
b = number of species in quadrat/sample 1
c = number of species in quadrat/sample 2
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(d) Dominance:
The species which have high number and large volume are called dominant species.

3. Physiognomic characteristics of plant communities

(a) Physiognomy - The appearance of stand

(b) Pattern - The group of individuals with physiognomic contrast

(c) Life-form (growth forms)

- This is the classification of plants according to their size, morphology, duration
of vegetative body irrespective of the taxonomic relations
- Depending upon the general appearance and growth, the species in a community
are grouped into different life-form categories and these are widely used for
describing vegetation.
- The most useful life-form classification is the one developed by Raunkiaer called
Raunkiaer’s classification of life-forms. This classification was based on the
position and the degree of protection to the perennating bud (i.e. the bud from
which the next seasons growth would be made) in relation to the soil surface.
- On this basis he classified higher plants into five major life-form classes:

(i) Phanerophytes (P)

- Include trees, shrubs and climbers where the growing buds are located on the
upright shoot much above the ground surface and they are the least protected.
- They are borne freely in the air at varying heights at least 25cm above the
ground.

- Depending on the height of trees or shrubs, phanerophytes are distinguished as

follows:

Nannophanerophytes - <2m in height

Microphanerophytes - 2-8m in height
Mesophanerophytes - 8-30m in height
Megaphanerophytes - >30m in height

(ii) Chamaephytes (Ch)

- Include plants with their buds above ground surface but below 25cm. They
include dwarf shrubs, succulent shrubs, lichens, mosses etc.

(iii) Hemicryptophytes (H)

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- Are perennial herbs with perennating buds slightly below the soil surface and
they remain protected by plant litter
- Perennating buds may also be present at the soil surface but they are never
exposed. They remain concealed under dead leaves and twigs.

(iv) Cryptophytes
- Perennating buds are found below ground level or submerged in water, such as
bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes etc. They are divided into:
o Geophytes (G) - These are plants with rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, corms etc.
Buds arise from these structures and they produce the next season’s aerial
shoots. They are adapted to withstand long periods of adverse climatic
conditions.
o Helophytes – Plants have their perennating organs inn soil or much below
the water level with aerial shoots above water level e.g. Typha, Phragmites.
o Hydrophytes – Plants with perennating buds under water and with their
leaves submerged or floating. Buds may occur on rhizomes e.g. Nympheae,
Potamogeton, Pistia.

(v) Therophytes (Ephemerals) (Th)

- They are short lived annual plants (herbs) that stay as seeds during the
unfavourable season. The perennating bud is protected by the seed coat.
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The contribution made by each life-form to the overall flora of an area can be expressed
as a percentage of the total number of species to give a life-form spectrum.

Calculation of life-form spectrum:

- Classify all the species into the various life-form classes.
- Sum the number of species by life-form class and express the results in percent.
For example:

Species 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Life- P H Ch P P H Ge P Th H
form

- Calculate the % of each life-form:P = 4/10 × 100; H = 3/10 × 100; Ch = 1/10 × 100
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Ge = 1/10 × 100; Th = 1/10 × 100.

- Plot the % values in a bar graph

NB: Life-form spectrum can be used to compare different floristic regions or different
communities.

Life-form P Ch H Ge Th Comm type

Comm 1 88 2 1 9 0
Comm 2 9 14 19 8 50

When species within a community are classified into lifeforms and each lifeform is
expressed as a percentage, the result is a lifeform spectrum (Biological spectrum) that
reflects the plants’ adaptations to the environment, especially climate, and provides a
standard means for describing community structure. The ratio of the life forms of
different species in terms of percentage in any floristic community is called the
biological spectrum.
Biological spectrum is also called phyto-climatic spectrum because each lifeform is
related to a particular climate and the composition of a community in terms of lifeforms
also indicates the climatic condition prevailing in the area. Therefore, biological
spectrum is a direct indicator of the environment that is occupied by the particular
community.
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