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The ecodist package for dissimilarity-based analysis of ecological data

Publication ,  Journal Article
Goslee, SC; Urban, DL
Published in: Journal of Statistical Software
2007

Ecologists are concerned with the relationships between species composition and environmental factors, and with spatial structure within those relationships. A dissimilarity-based framework incorporating space explicitly is an extremely flexible tool for answering these questions. The R package ecodist brings together methods for working with dissimilarities, including some not available in other R packages. We present some of the features of ecodist, particularly simple and partial Mantel tests, and make recommendations for their effective use. Although the partial Mantel test is often used to account for the effects of space, the assumption of linearity greatly reduces its effectiveness for complex spatial patterns. We introduce a modification of the Mantel correlogram designed to overcome this restriction and allow consideration of complex nonlinear structures. This extension of the method allows the use of partial multivariate correlograms and tests of relationship between variables at different spatial scales. Some of the possibilities are demonstrated using both artificial data and data from an ongoing study of plant community composition in grazinglands of the northeastern United States.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Journal of Statistical Software

ISSN

1548-7660

Publication Date

2007

Volume

22

Issue

7

Start / End Page

1 / 19

Related Subject Headings

  • Statistics & Probability
  • 4905 Statistics
  • 0104 Statistics
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Goslee, S. C., & Urban, D. L. (2007). The ecodist package for dissimilarity-based analysis of ecological data. Journal of Statistical Software, 22(7), 1–19.
Goslee, S. C., and D. L. Urban. “The ecodist package for dissimilarity-based analysis of ecological data.” Journal of Statistical Software 22, no. 7 (2007): 1–19.
Goslee SC, Urban DL. The ecodist package for dissimilarity-based analysis of ecological data. Journal of Statistical Software. 2007;22(7):1–19.
Goslee, S. C., and D. L. Urban. “The ecodist package for dissimilarity-based analysis of ecological data.” Journal of Statistical Software, vol. 22, no. 7, 2007, pp. 1–19.
Goslee SC, Urban DL. The ecodist package for dissimilarity-based analysis of ecological data. Journal of Statistical Software. 2007;22(7):1–19.

Published In

Journal of Statistical Software

ISSN

1548-7660

Publication Date

2007

Volume

22

Issue

7

Start / End Page

1 / 19

Related Subject Headings

  • Statistics & Probability
  • 4905 Statistics
  • 0104 Statistics