Ellenberg indicator values

Direct measurements of environmental factors can be to some extent substituted by bioindication. In Central Europe, the use of Ellenberg indicator values (EIV) has become widespread, and the same or modified values are also used in more peripheral regions. JUICE calculates unweighted indicator values for a relevé by averaging the available indicator values for the species present in this relevé.

The file ELLENB.TXT contains indicator values (Ellenberg et al. 1992) associated with the species codes and names used in NEWFLORA.TXT. If you are using a different species dictionary you will need to create your own file.

The file is created as a text file with this structure. First five characters are reserved for the species number in Turboveg, the second part consist of full names and the EIVs for Light, Temperature, Continentality, Moisture, Ca and Productivity is stored in the thirt part of each line.

Note: The program is optimised for the use of EIV. If there is anybody, who would like to use any measure of bioindication and have digital species data, please, contact me and I can help you with their implementation to the program.

Initiation

The first step in calculating Ellenberg indicator values is their allocation to species. The main form for adding and editing of EIVs is in the menu INDICATOR VALUES and INITIATION. The left-hand side window shows the list of species from the current file. If the EIVs are allocated, they are displayed in six text windows (Light, Temperature... Nutrients). If the species is without values, it is highlighted by red colour.

There are three ways how to add EIVs to your table:

• Add EIVs automatically – The program associates all species codes (except for aggregated species) in the current *.WCT file with the values in the file ELLENB.TXT (select this file in the opening form). Due to aggregating and other changes managed in JUICE some species are not associated with any Turboveg names and need not be associated.
• Add EIVs for (S) species - The program adds the values for all aggregated species (which were not associated during the first step) according to their names. The aggregated ‘(S)’ species name string is directly compared with the name strings in ELLENB.TXT.
• Add EIVs manually - The program shows another window with the list of species and indicator values (see bellow). The upper text box is modified for quick selection of species, double clicking on any species in the list box will move all values to textboxes in the form centre. Additionally, all separate values can be changed by simply rewriting the value in the text window.

EIV calculation for relevés

This function calculates average EIVs for the six basic environmental factors. Each EIV is calculated as an unweighted average of all known values for species present in the relevé. The values can only be calculated correctly if EIVs are first initiated in the current table.

The form displays the number of species occurred in the relevé, number of species with any non-zero value of any ecological factor and simple averages of EIVs.

The function is initiated by selecting of INDICATOR VALUES and CALCULATION FOR RELEVÉS. The mouse pointer will change and expect any click on appropriate relevé. The next form will display:

The left window of the form shows the list of species present in the selected relevé, their cover values (first column) and indicator values. Average values and numbers of species used for calculation are displayed on the right-hand side of the form.

Two types of export enable transforming calculated values into ASCII files, which can be imported into spreadsheet programs (Microsoft EXCEL, Microsoft ACCESS etc.). EXPORT VALUES FOR <selected colour> RELEVÉS is the function exporting values for a relevé block marked by selected colours; EXPORT VALUES FOR RELEVÉS GROUPS writes the values together with information on the relevé group (a relevé group is defined by line separators and can be displayed by the menu HEAD and GROUP NUMBER).

All values can be also stored into short headers. Move the cursor up to texts (Light, Temperature, Continentality...) and click. The button ADD VALUE <value> TO THE HEAD will change and the appropriate ecological factor will be highlighted by red colour.