Spectral Analysis and the Analysis of Pattern in Plant Communities

SUMMARY (1) Spectral analysis is a relatively untried method for the analysis of data from a line of contiguous quadrats. Conventional block-size analyses are shown to be related to square waves. In spectral analysis square waves are replaced by sine waves. (2) These methods and Mead's test are compared with conventional methods, using artificial and field data. Spectral analysis performed reliably and gave a good indication of the type of departure from a random pattern. Mead's test proved sensitive but hard to interpret, often contradicting other methods. (3) It is argued that standardization should not be used with methods based on variances.