Association between species and similarity between stands

Abstract

Any classificatory or ordination method comprises two components: a measure of association between species or similarity (or dissimiliarity) between stands, and a strategy of manipulation of the chosen measurement. Moreover, many of the methods required in more detailed ecological work, not involving classification or ordination, use the same measures of association or similarity, particularly those which are amenable to statistical tests of significance. This chapter is concerned with the formulation and use of such measures, while the next two chapters will deal, respectively, with classification and ordination methods.