# Transect

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{{Short description|Path along which organisms are recorded}}
{{For|the urban planning approach|Transect (urban)}}
thumb|A transect running across a stream.
A '''transect''' is a path along which one counts and records occurrences of the objects of study (e.g. plants).<ref>{{Cite web |title=fhs-bio-wiki / Transects |url=http://fhs-bio-wiki.pbworks.com/w/page/26749275/Transects#:~:text=An%20interrupted%20belt%20transect%20records,and%20more%20specific%20information%20desired. |access-date=2025-09-08 |website=fhs-bio-wiki.pbworks.com}}</ref>

It requires an observer to move along a fixed path and to count occurrences along the path and, at the same time (in some procedures), obtain the distance of the object from the path. This results in an estimate of the area covered and an estimate of the way in which detectability increases from probability 0 (far from the path) towards 1 (near the path). Using the raw count and this probability function, one can arrive at an estimate of the actual density of objects.thumb|Transects being used to measure the changes around the boundary of a grassland fire near Backhouse Tarn, Tasmania.
The estimation of the abundance of populations (such as terrestrial mammal species) can be achieved using a number of different types of transect methods, such as strip transects, [line transects](/source/Line-intercept_sampling), [belt transect](/source/belt_transect)s, [point transect](/source/point_transect)s<ref>Buckland, S. T.; Anderson, D. R.; Burnham, K. P.; Laake, J. L. 1993. [http://www.colostate.edu/Dept/coopunit/download.html ''Distance Sampling: Estimating Abundance of Biological Populations'']. London: Chapman and Hall. {{ISBN|0-412-42660-9}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2016}}, [gradsects](/source/Gradsect) and curved line transects.<ref>Line Lex Hiby, M. B. Krishna 2001. "Transect Sampling from a Curving Path". ''Biometrics''. 57(3):727–731 [http://www.creem.st-and.ac.uk/tiago/webpages/pdfs/Hiby&Krishna2001.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930121723/http://www.creem.st-and.ac.uk/tiago/webpages/pdfs/Hiby%26Krishna2001.pdf|date=2007-09-30}}</ref>

== See also ==
* {{annotated link|Census}}
* {{annotated link|Mark and recapture}} – Method for estimating a species population size
* {{annotated link|Distance sampling}}
* {{annotated link|MegaTransect}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Wiktionary-inline}}

Category:Scientific observation
Category:Ecological techniques
Category:Environmental statistics
Category:Environmental Sampling Equipment

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