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Minimum spanning ordination — a graphic‐analytical technique for three‐dimensional ordination display
Author(s) -
GILLISON A. N.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
australian journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1442-9993
pISSN - 0307-692X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1978.tb01172.x
Subject(s) - ordination , principal component analysis , interpretation (philosophy) , dimension (graph theory) , centroid , representation (politics) , computer science , perspective (graphical) , minimum spanning tree , dimensionality reduction , algorithm , mathematics , artificial intelligence , combinatorics , machine learning , politics , political science , law , programming language
Problems of display and interpretation often associated with ordination techniques are briefly discussed. Minimum spanning ordination (MSO) is put forward as offering a meaningful compromise between the limitations of two‐dimensional representation and three‐dimensional complexity. The method incorporates the use of a minimum spanning tree together with a graphic spherical perspective of points in the third dimension. It is suggested that where this approach is used with reduction analysis, i.e. with centroids of representative clusters, interpretation is much improved and inherent distortions likely to result from techniques such as principal component analysis are more readily exposed.