A Phytosociological and Ecological Study of Cattail Stands in Oakland County, Michigan

The main purpose of this paper is the study of the objectivity of the concept of 'association' as used by the majority of modern ecologists and the 'individualistic association' concept proposed by Gleason. The cattail community was chosen because of its wide distribution (it is expected to apply the same methods of study to the cattail stands of south-eastern Brazil), and relatively simple structure and floristic composition. It is a type of community that seems obviously definite, the many stands of which form a good example of the community type in the thinking of most ecologists. It is, therefore, a good subject for investigation of association homogeneity and the question of the objective reality of the association. The area of the present study was limited to a single county, eliminating the factor of geographic variation that would be encountered were a larger area surveyed. The author is most grateful to Dr Stanley A. Cain under whose direction this investigation was made, for his encouragement and help, and to the Cranbrook Institute of Science for facilities made available to him; to Miss Marion F. Hesz and Mr Floyd W. Bunt for their co-operation on field work; to Mr Paul W. Thompson and Mr Dale Hagenah for their aid in the identification of certain plants and, finally, to Mrs Eugene Hesz for her work with the manuscript and Mr Walter P. Nickell for the photographs.