All: Rather than hang this onto the recent/ongoing discussion of "plot sampling for density," I will say that the more I think about it, the more difficulty I have in seeing the value in measuring either cover or density. Both have more to do with the present state of an ecosystem in terms getting some kind of handle (inferential?) on its potential productivity/carrying capacity or its state on the way to that point. Even species diversity is largely a reflection of site diversity and biological interactions (shade, soil, predation, dispersal, etc.), which change (and thus must be continuously/periodically measured over time (one-time studies are necessarily a snapshot, not a movie) if they are to have anything to say about ecosystem dynamics--understanding what is actually going on.
So let me have it! WT
