transect

A transect is a path along which one records and/or counts occurrences of the phenomenon of study (e.g. animals, for instance by noting each individual animal's distance from the path, or archaeological remains such as lithic or ceramic artifacts, or species of plants, in the process of estimating population densities in a study area). It requires an observer to move along a fixed path and to count occurrences along the path and, at the same time, obtaining a measure of what distance the object is to the path. This results in an estimate of the area covered, an estimate of the way in which detectability drops off from probability 1 to 0 as one moves away from the path. Using these two figures one can obtain an estimate of the actual density of objects.

Transect

See also