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2 - Spatial Concepts and Notions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2025

Mark R. T. Dale
Affiliation:
University of Northern British Columbia
Marie-Josée Fortin
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

Spatial analysis originated in a broad range of disciplines, producing a diverse set of concepts and terminologies. Ecological processes take place in space and time, and the spatio-temporal structure that results takes different forms that produce spatial dependence at all scales. That dependence has major effects, even when ecological data are abstracted from the spatial context. Not all dependence exhibits a smooth decay with increasing separation, but it can vary with scale, stationarity or its absence and direction (anisotropy versus isotropy). A key factor in spatial analysis is the ability to determine neighbour events for points or patches and we present various algorithms to create networks of neighbours. We discuss a range of spatial statistics and related randomization tests, including a ’Markov and Monte Carlo’ approach. The chapter provides a detailed conceptual background for the technical aspects presented in subsequent chapters.

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Chapter
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Spatial Analysis
A Guide for Ecologists
, pp. 20 - 59
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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