Intertype mark correlation function: A new tool for the analysis of species interactions

• Published in: Ecological modelling Vol. 222; no. 3; pp. 580 - 587
• Main Authors: Ledo, Alicia, Condés, Sonia, Montes, Fernando
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 10.02.2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biological and medical sciences; Bivariate point process; forest ecosystems; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects. Techniques; Interspecific interactions; Mark correlation; Marked point process; Methods and techniques (sampling, tagging, trapping, modelling...); Ripley's K function; Spatial pattern; stand characteristics; tree and stand measurements; trees; Interspecific interactions; Mark correlation; Spatial pattern; Marked point process; Bivariate point process; Ripley's K function; Spatial distribution; Models; Spatial variation; Interspecific relation
• ISSN: 0304-3800; 1872-7026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2010.10.029

The spatial pattern of the different species in complex ecosystems reflects the underlying ecological processes. In this paper a second order moment function is proposed and tested to analyse the spatial distribution of a mark, which could be a tree characteristic such as diameter or height, between two different types of points, which could be two different tree species. The proposed function was a conditional density function based on the intertype K rs ( d) function, incorporating as test function the correlation of the marks between pairs composed of points of different types. The results obtained in simulated and real plots prove that the function is capable of revealing the scale at which spatial correlation of the mark between two types of points exists. The proposed function allows the spatial association between individuals of different species at different life stages to be identified. This analysis may reveal information on species ecology and interspecific interactions in forest ecosystems.