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EXPLANATORY MODELS FOR ECOLOGICAL RESPONSE SURFACES
Citation:
Jager, H. AND W. Overton. EXPLANATORY MODELS FOR ECOLOGICAL RESPONSE SURFACES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/A-94/076.
Description:
It is often spatial patterns in environmental and ecological variables that arouse interest and demand explanation. or environmental response variables, the causal influences of interacting environmental factors produce the patterns of interest. cological response variables by definition involve living organisms and are at least one step removed from spatial patterns in the physical environment. he spatial organization of ecological variables, such as species abundance, is often viewed as a collection of individual species responses to variation in the physical environment. n this chapter, the authors use a regression model to predict lake acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) based on environmental predictor variables over a large region. hese predictions are used to produce model-based population estimates. wo key features of our modeling approach are that it honors the spatial context and the design of the sample data. he spatial context of the data is brought into the analysis of model residuals through the interpretation of residual maps and semivariograms. he sampling design is taken into account by including stratification variables from the design in the model. his ensures that the model supplies to a real population.