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Fine-scale distributions of tropical animal mounds: a revised statistical analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Martin Fisher
Martin Fisher
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Sultan Qaboos University, PO Box 32486 Al-Khod, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
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Abstract

Descriptions of the fine scale distribution of organisms have frequently been used to investigate various ecological phenomena. Unfortunately, the most widely used spatial analysis techniques are based on single index statistics, which convey only minimal information about the biological processes underlying the studied distributions. Such statistics cannot detect changes in pattern over different scales, and cannot identify some types of distribution. Additionally, both the use of such statistics on the distribution of individuals which have a non-negligible size, and the frequent failure to use an edge correction for points close to the boundaries of a sampled area, have led to the over-reporting of ‘spaced out’ (‘regular’) distributions. Using two spatial distributions recently analysed with a single index statistic (termite mounds, and earthmounds created by termites), I illustrate the benefits gained from using the spatial functions K(t), G(y) and F(x) to analyse both ‘point events’ and events which have a non-negligible size. These functions are considerably more informative about the nature of a spatial pattern and offer wide scope for the fitting of spatial models to biological distributions.

Keywords

earthmoundfine-scale spatial distributionIsopterapatternspacingspatial analysistermite
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , August 1993 , pp. 339 - 348
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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