Community ecology in the age of multivariate multiscale spatial analysis

摘要: Species spatial distributions are the result of population demography, behavioral traits, and species interactions in spatially heterogeneous environmental conditions. Hence composition assemblages is an integrative response variable, its variability can be explained by complex interplay among several structuring factors. The thorough analysis variation may help infer processes shaping ecological communities. We suggest that studies would benefit from combined use classical statistical models community data, such as constrained or unconstrained multivariate analyses site-by-species abundance tables, with rapidly emerging diversifying methods pattern analysis. Doing so allows one to deal explicit beta diversity a biogeographic context through multiscale patterns original data including characterization fitted residual models. summarize here recent progress for specifying features weighting matrices eigenfunctions order define scale-explicit analyses. Through worked example on tropical tree communities, we also show potential overall approach identify significant could arise omission important unmeasured explanatory variables processes.