The study of plant community structure is called phytosociology.

A plant community is a group or collection of plant species that collectively create a relatively uniform patch within a specified geographical area and can be distinguished from nearby patches of other vegetation types. The plant community elements are impacted by soil type, topography, climate, and human disturbance.

The Zurich-Montpether school of vegetational analysis, pioneered by J. Braun-Blanquet, has established many approaches for studying the structure and composition of plant communities. He has categorised these methods under phytosociology.

Analytical and synthetic character sets are researched simultaneously in a community.

Analytical characteristics are those aspects of the community that can be seen or measured clearly from each standpoint. They comprise types and numbers of species, the strength of the species, distribution and number of individuals, form, plant heights, area volume, periodicity and growth rate, etc.

Synthetic characters are elements of a community based on analytical characteristics and utilise the information acquired from the analysis of various stands.

Related Links:

• Community Definition
• Difference Between Species, Population and Community
• Organisms and Population Attributes

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