Aims In ecology and conservation biology,the number of species counted in a biodiversity study is a key metric but is usually a biased underestimate of total species richness because many rare species are not detected...Aims In ecology and conservation biology,the number of species counted in a biodiversity study is a key metric but is usually a biased underestimate of total species richness because many rare species are not detected.Moreover,comparing species richness among sites or samples is a statistical challenge because the observed number of species is sensitive to the number of individuals counted or the area sampled.For individual-based data,we treat a single,empirical sample of species abundances from an investigator-defined species assemblage or community as a reference point for two estimation objectives under two sampling models:estimating the expected number of species(and its unconditional variance)in a random sample of(i)a smaller number of individuals(multinomial model)or a smaller area sampled(Poisson model)and(ii)a larger number of individuals or a larger area sampled.For sample-based incidence(presence–absence)data,under a Bernoulli product model,we treat a single set of species incidence frequencies as the reference point to estimate richness for smaller and larger numbers of sampling units.Methods The first objective is a problem in interpolation that we address with classical rarefaction(multinomial model)and Coleman rarefaction(Poisson model)for individual-based data and with sample-based rarefaction(Bernoulli product model)for incidence frequencies.The second is a problem in extrapolation that we address with sampling-theoretic predictors for the number of species in a larger sample(multinomial model),a larger area(Poisson model)or a larger number of sampling units(Bernoulli product model),based on an estimate of asymptotic species richness.Although published methods exist for many of these objectives,we bring them together here with some new estimators under a unified statistical and notational framework.This novel integration of mathematically distinct approaches allowed us to link interpolated(rarefaction)curves and extrapolated curves to plot a unified species accumulation curve for empirical examp展开更多
Spatially explicit simulation of land use change is the basis for estimating the effects of land use and cover change on energy fluxes, ecology and the environment. At the pixel level, logistic regression is one of th...Spatially explicit simulation of land use change is the basis for estimating the effects of land use and cover change on energy fluxes, ecology and the environment. At the pixel level, logistic regression is one of the most common approaches used in spatially explicit land use allocation models to determine the relationship between land use and its causal factors in driving land use change, and thereby to evaluate land use suitability. However, these models have a drawback in that they do not determine/ allocate land use based on the direct relationship between land use change and its driving factors. Consequently, a multinomial logistic regression method was introduced to address this flaw, and thereby, judge the suitability of a type of land use in any given pixel in a case study area of the Jiangxi Province, China. A comparison of the two regression methods indicated that the proportion of correctly allocated pixels using multinomial logistic regression was 92.98%, which was 8.47% higher than that obtained using logistic regression. Paired t-test results also showed that pixels were more clearly distinguished by multinomial logistic regression than by logistic regression. In conclusion, multinomial logistic regression is a more efficient and accurate method for the spatial allocation of land use changes. The application of this method in future land use change studies may improve the accuracy of predicting the effects of land use and cover change on energy fluxes, ecology, and environment.展开更多
基金US National Science Foundation(DEB 0639979 and DBI 0851245 to R.K.C.DEB-0541936 to N.J.G.+4 种基金DEB-0424767 and DEB-0639393 to R.L.C.DEB-0640015 to J.T.L.)the US Department of Energy(022821 to N.J.G.)the Taiwan National Science Council(97-2118-M007-MY3 to A.C.)and the University of Connecticut Research Foundation(to R.L.C.).
文摘Aims In ecology and conservation biology,the number of species counted in a biodiversity study is a key metric but is usually a biased underestimate of total species richness because many rare species are not detected.Moreover,comparing species richness among sites or samples is a statistical challenge because the observed number of species is sensitive to the number of individuals counted or the area sampled.For individual-based data,we treat a single,empirical sample of species abundances from an investigator-defined species assemblage or community as a reference point for two estimation objectives under two sampling models:estimating the expected number of species(and its unconditional variance)in a random sample of(i)a smaller number of individuals(multinomial model)or a smaller area sampled(Poisson model)and(ii)a larger number of individuals or a larger area sampled.For sample-based incidence(presence–absence)data,under a Bernoulli product model,we treat a single set of species incidence frequencies as the reference point to estimate richness for smaller and larger numbers of sampling units.Methods The first objective is a problem in interpolation that we address with classical rarefaction(multinomial model)and Coleman rarefaction(Poisson model)for individual-based data and with sample-based rarefaction(Bernoulli product model)for incidence frequencies.The second is a problem in extrapolation that we address with sampling-theoretic predictors for the number of species in a larger sample(multinomial model),a larger area(Poisson model)or a larger number of sampling units(Bernoulli product model),based on an estimate of asymptotic species richness.Although published methods exist for many of these objectives,we bring them together here with some new estimators under a unified statistical and notational framework.This novel integration of mathematically distinct approaches allowed us to link interpolated(rarefaction)curves and extrapolated curves to plot a unified species accumulation curve for empirical examp
基金Acknowledgements This research was financially supported by the National Basic Research of China (2010CB950900) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 71225005 and 41071343). Two anonymous reviewers are sincerely acknowledged for their valuable comments which have significantly improved the manuscript.
文摘Spatially explicit simulation of land use change is the basis for estimating the effects of land use and cover change on energy fluxes, ecology and the environment. At the pixel level, logistic regression is one of the most common approaches used in spatially explicit land use allocation models to determine the relationship between land use and its causal factors in driving land use change, and thereby to evaluate land use suitability. However, these models have a drawback in that they do not determine/ allocate land use based on the direct relationship between land use change and its driving factors. Consequently, a multinomial logistic regression method was introduced to address this flaw, and thereby, judge the suitability of a type of land use in any given pixel in a case study area of the Jiangxi Province, China. A comparison of the two regression methods indicated that the proportion of correctly allocated pixels using multinomial logistic regression was 92.98%, which was 8.47% higher than that obtained using logistic regression. Paired t-test results also showed that pixels were more clearly distinguished by multinomial logistic regression than by logistic regression. In conclusion, multinomial logistic regression is a more efficient and accurate method for the spatial allocation of land use changes. The application of this method in future land use change studies may improve the accuracy of predicting the effects of land use and cover change on energy fluxes, ecology, and environment.