ExOS: Excel Package for the Analysis of Ontogenetic Spectra of Plant Populations.

According to the scheme of age periodization of plant ontogenesis proposed by T.A. Rabotnov and A.A. Uranov, about a dozen of main age (ontogenetic) states are distinguished. Each population sample represents an ordered series of frequencies of occurrence of plants at these states: the so-called ontogenetic spectrum (OS). Different OS statistics are available according to the form of the OS, reflecting a greater or lesser representation of young, mature, or old plants in the population and making it possible to represent the temporal dynamics of the population. The Excel Ontogenetic Spectrum (ExOS) package allows their automatic computation and analysis. Input data are the numbers or frequencies of ontogenetic states in the sample. Output data are the classifications of OS and cenopopulation types according to various criteria; population–ontogenetic indices; and, for multiple population samples, similarity (or distance) between them and their ordination on delta–omega axes. The corresponding diagrams are captured automatically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]