Experiments in estimating density from joint point- and nearest-neighbour distance samples
A new model has been developed for estimating density of plant or animal populations. For uniform, randomly-distributed or contagious populations which are distributed with one or two orders of aggregation, it employs the distance from each sample point to the nearest population member, from that individual to the nearest neighbour and from that neighbour to its nearest neighbour. The principle of the model is that an estimate of density is first obtained from the sample point-nearest population member distances.