Attributes
Attributes are the characteristics of the population we wish to measure during sampling, such as species composition, biomass, cover, density, or frequency, at a site. Other attributes of a vegetation community that we may need to describe include plant vigor, habitat quality, soil condition status, erosion potential, etc. Obviously some attributes are easy to measure directly, while others depend on an indirect or subjective assessment of the characteristic.
References and Further Reading
Cochran, W.G. 1977. Sampling techniques. John Wiley Sons, New York, NY.