Randomly Located Quadrats to Determine Density
When the sampling layout involves quadrats located under the principles of random sampling, each quadrat represents a sample unit and values describing density in each quadrat (number of individuals/quadrat area must be calculated for each quadrat) are used in the statistical analysis of density data. Although this approach is straightforward, it can be an inefficient design to measure density because the sample usually has a large sample variance.
References and Further Reading
Bonham, C.D. 1989. Measurements for terrestrial vegetation. John Wiley Sons, New York. pp. 145-146.
Bureau of Land Management. 1996. Sampling vegetation attributes. Interagency Technical Reference, BLM/RS/ST-96/002+1730. pp. 101-102.
Lindsey, A.A. 1955. Testing the line-strip method against tallies in diverse forest types. Ecology 36:485-495.