The organismic and the continuous approaches applied to phytosociological relationships in a lowland neotropical forest, Venezuela

Abstract The Organismic and the Continuous theories are traditionally considered as antagonist in ecology studies. In this research, we make the floristic characterization of different forest communities and establish the corresponding classification, taking into account the approaches derived from the theories aforementioned. We used 1 ha plots to evaluate individuals bigger than 10 cm dbh (diameter at breast height). In each one of that plots, four sub-plots of 100 m2 were measured, to study all the spermatophyta in the understory. The data obtained were considered in an Enlarged Importance Index (EII), for each species in each plot. Then, the phytosociological relationships were establis…