Using nomograms for evaluating plant morphological and physiological data

Abstract

Simple, graphical techniques are available to plant professionals to evaluate morphological and physiological data. The most commonly used graphs show only one variable at a time. However, plotting two variables into a simple coordinate system and adding diagonal lines to show relationships between those two variables greatly enhances the interpretive possibilities available to the plant practitioner by facilitating simultaneous comparisons of multiple variables. This easy-to-use nomogram is useful for evaluating and comparing plant responses to treatments and environments, plant development over time, and stock quality among species, genotypes, and other factors. This article describes how to construct this type of graph, the kind of data for which this technique is most useful, and how it can be applied to operational and research activities. Copyright © 2012 by the Society of American Foresters.