The pin-point method (or point-intercept method) is used for non-destructive measurements of

plant cover The abundances of plant species are often measured by plant cover, which is the relative area covered by different plant species in a small plot. Plant cover is not biased by the size and distributions of individuals, and is an important and oft ...

and plant

biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...

. In a pin-point analysis, a frame (or a

transect A transect is a path along which one counts and records occurrences of the objects of study (e.g. plants). There are several types of transect. Some are more effective than others. It requires an observer to move along a fixed path and to count ...

) with a fixed

grid pattern In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogona ...

is placed above the vegetation. A pin is inserted vertically through one of the grid points into the vegetation and will typically touch a number of plants. The number of times the pin touches different plant species is then recorded. This procedure is repeated at each grid point. Vertical rulers connected to the frame are used to prevent horizontal drift of the pins and to measure the height of vegetation hit by the pins.

References

Habitat Habitat management equipment and methods {{habitat-stub