Stereograms to aid group recognition and trend identification in vegetation data

Abstract

When vegetation data are summarized on the basis of some method of ordination, a search for distinct groups or trends is greatly facilitated if the cloud of sample points is viewed under a lens stereoscope in three dimensions. The present paper describes a simple method to construct stereograms and illustrates their application in a classification problem.A stereogram is composed of two images of a three-dimensional object. The left image and the right correspond respectively to sightings with the left eye or the right eye of the observer. The diagrams are placed side by side at a specified distance apart, and when viewed with the aid of a stereoscope, the images will merge resulting in a three-dimensional picture.