Short Note Strategy and tactics in pattern analysis: a response to Harrington, Dawes and Ludwig

Autor: M. B. Dale
Rok vydání: 1982
Předmět:
Zdroj: Austral Ecology. 7:411-414
ISSN: 1442-9993
1442-9985
DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1982.tb01316.x
Popis: In this paper the role of pattern analytic methods is examined. Recently Harrington et al. (1981) have argued that such methods provide no information which is not already available to the user and that they therefore must be considered useless. It is first suggested that Harrison et al. provided no proof that the information obtained from a pattern analysis was already known to them. It is further suggested that they have misunderstood the role of pattern analysis in the identification of processes for generation of variation in vegetation, restricting it solely to certain mathematical techniques of search. However the assignment of credit or debit to the various components of an analysis, where these include such things as choice of sample units, selection of descriptors, identification of appropriate accuracy and precision for measurement as well as the selection of similarity measures and structuring techniques, remains a very difficult task. Harrington et al. do not appear from their paper to have thoroughly explored all possibilities. In fact the results obtained by them reflect the complexity of the ecological situation. Thus the difficulty they had in interpretation reflects their desire for a simplistic solution. Whether changes in all features of the analysis can provide such a simple result is not known. However it can hardly be considered the fault of the analysis if no such simplicity exists.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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