The value of structural features in tropical forest typology

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Abstract
A pro forma is presented which is based on selected physiognomic–structural features of tropical forest vegetation. It was designed to facilitate collection of data by non‐botanists, and the occurrence of features was assessed either by presence/absence or on a four‐point scale.Data were collected in a mixture of rain forests and sclerophyll forests in North Queensland and New Guinea, and analysed by an agglomerative polythetic method to provide a classification of sites.The structural classification of the simple forests (regrowth rain forests, forests under extreme limiting conditions and eucalypt woodlands) was unsatisfactory, and floristic differentiation is necessary. However, the structural classification of the complex forests, and of mature forest vegetation over a wide environmental range, produced meaningful site‐groupings below the subformation level. The method of structural analysis is rapid and relatively inexpensive, and shows most promise in complex tropical vegetation for which floristic data are not usually available.