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Use of the β‐function to estimate the skewness of species responses
Author(s) -
Karadžić Branko,
Marinković Saša,
Katarinovski Dragan
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of vegetation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1654-1103
pISSN - 1100-9233
DOI - 10.1111/j.1654-1103.2003.tb02212.x
Subject(s) - skewness , function (biology) , gradient analysis , gaussian , series (stratigraphy) , algorithm , polynomial , simple (philosophy) , mathematics , variable (mathematics) , computer science , statistics , ecology , biological system , biology , mathematical analysis , ordination , paleontology , physics , philosophy , epistemology , quantum mechanics , evolutionary biology
. Response of a species to an environmental variable may be modeled and predicted using a wide spectrum of different functions. Contrary to other functions (Gaussian, polynomial etc), all parameters of the β‐function are interpretable in ecological terms. However, computational difficulties in the determination of the β‐function parameters initiated controversial debates on the applicability and usefulness of this function in vegetation modelling and gradient analysis. We propose a simple algorithm for fitting the β‐function to observed data. Analytic properties of the algorithm (its ability to recover the known species responses along gradients) are tested using a series of simulated data. In most cases the algorithm correctly estimated parameters of the simulated responses.