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Comparing two sets of community data: A method for testing reserve adequacy
Author(s) -
BELBIN L.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
australian journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1442-9993
pISSN - 0307-692X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1992.tb00807.x
Subject(s) - range (aeronautics) , statistics , set (abstract data type) , data set , measure (data warehouse) , ecology , mathematics , simple (philosophy) , computer science , data mining , econometrics , biology , engineering , aerospace engineering , philosophy , epistemology , programming language
Comparing a new set of samples to what may be considered a reference set is a common problem in ecology. The investigator may be interested in the degree of correspondence or any anomalies. For example, does a set of existing reserves adequately cover the range of communities sampled in a region? A technique for such comparisons is proposed. Being dependent solely on estimates of ecological resemblance, it is simple, efficient and robust. Significant difference is defined by means of a resemblance coefficient. A threshold value denoting significant difference can be defined either by species overlap or other attributes of the data. For presence/absence data the Czekanowski coefficient provides a suitable measure of ecological resemblance. Traditional discriminant analysis does not provide a viable alternative due to its limitations in accommodating ecological data.