transect/tɹænˈsɛkt/EtymologyFrom tran- + sect.nounA path along which a researcher moves to count and record observations or collect data.“The AOT methodology employs the concept of a ‘transect’, the essential idea of which is to collect data taken along a line or series of lines that cross a certain space. Collecting data via transects is a commonplace in biology, being regularly used for such purposes as monitoring butterfly numbers or estimating the size of bird populations. But transects have also been utilised in a large variety”verbTo divide something by cutting transversely.