A primer on sampling plant communities in wetlands
The diversity of wetland types on the landscape, combined with the complexity of plant communities that often exists from the edge of wetlands to the interior, requires multiple sampling approaches to adequately quantify vegetation patterns and determine plant cover and stand density or basal area. This chapter provides a review of the traditional approaches used to establish community structure in terms of the tree, shrub, or herbaceous components of a wetland community. It also provides several new spatial design approaches that should be considered when sampling wetlands, especially those with nutrient or hydrologic gradients. To aid in this effort, we provide guidelines, with examples, on how to sample the macrophyte plant community in swamp forests, shrub bogs, riparian, salt marsh, and fen type communities. Highlighted methods include both plot and plotless approaches as well as stratified-random and cluster sampling designs, with information given to help with determining sample size, rapid methods for community analysis, as well as exploratory data analysis and presentation of results.