Spatial Statistics

Jonathan
Bossenbroek, PhD
Dept of Env. Sciences
Lake Erie Center
University of Toledo

What is Spatial Statistics?

The quantitative study of phenomena located

in space.

Spatial patterns

Autocorrelation

Semivariance

Example Moose on Isle Royale

Where are people in Bowman-Oddy?

Are

they

ran
dom
ly

d i st
ribu
t

ed?

Point-to-Point Nearest-Neighbor
Analysis

Uses distances between points as its basis.

The distance observed between each point
and its nearest neighbor is compared with the
expected mean distance that would occur if
the distribution were random.

G Statistic

G ( y )

di y

di is the distance of point i to its nearest

neighbor
y is distance
n is the number of points

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.0

0.2

G(r)

0.00

0.02

0.04
r

Distance
Examples: paint splatters, dandelions in a field,

0.06

0.08

0.8
0.6
0.0

0.2

0.4

G(r)

0.00

0.05
r
Distance

Examples: breeding birds, beach blankets,

0.10

0.15

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.0

0.2

G(r)

0.00

0.01

0.02

0.03
r

Distance
Examples: Buffalo at a watering hole, fast food restaurants,

0.04

0.05

How old are those people in Bowman-Oddy?

Are

they

ran
dom
ly

d i st
ribu
t

ed?

Geostatistical Tools For Modeling And

Interpreting Ecological Spatial
Dependence

Ecological Monographs 62(2). 1992. pp. 277-3146 1992 by the

Ecological Society of America
Richard E. Rossi et al.

geostatistics is never a replacement for sound ecological

reasoning

Geostistical Tools

Spatial and temporal dependence are the

norm in natural systems:

Different plant species are often different on north

and south facing slopes.
Grasshoppers are more dense during hot dry
periods.

Spatial dependence is particularly important

in analysis of spatially varying organisms and
environmental variables.
Spatial statistics can test for independence!

Always know your data!

Rossi et al. suggest always beginning with

exploratory data analysis.

Histograms, regressions, scatter plots etc.

From Rossi et al 1992

From Rossi et al 1992

From Rossi et al 1992

Basic statistics do not tell the

story

Two statistical tools:

h-scatterplots

h-scatterplots
Variography
displays the degree of spatial continuity or correlation at
some lag distance h

Variograms

Variograms model the average degree of similarity between

the values of a variable as a function of distance.

Scatter plots

Typical scatter plot compares measurement

of two parameters at the same location or of
the same object.

h-scatter plots compares measurement of the

same parameter at a certain distance apart.

h-scatterplot: if distance (h)

=1

h-scatterplot

h-scatterplot: if distance (h)

=2

How do you measure

variance?

semivariance
A variogram summarizes all h-scattergrams for all possible pairings
of the data or rather distributes variance across space.

y(h) is the estimated semivariance for lag h

N(h) is number of pairs of points separated by lag h
Z(xi) is the value of variable Z at location xi
Z(xi + h) is the value of variable Z at location xi + h

Looking back at h-scatter

plots

What is the variance

at h = 1?

Is the variance at h =
2 > or < h = 1?

semivariogram

Semivariance

Sill

Nugget

1 2

Distance (h)

Range

semivariogram

Semivariance

Sill

Nugget
Distance

Range

Semivariogram

Sill

Range

Variance level equivalent to the global variance of

the area
Distance at which data are no longer spatially
autocorrelated.
Patch size?

Nugget

Represents micro-scale variation or measurement

error.

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690 - 740
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841 - 890
890 - 960

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0
1
2
3
4

xp
Distance
5
6
7

200

400

600

yp
800

1000

Other topics in spatial

Kriging: an interpolation method for obtaining stastically
statistics.
unbiased estimates for field attributes (yield, nutrients,

elevation) from a set of neighboring points.

Other topics in spatial

statistics.

Correlogram: a
measure of spatial
dependence
(correlation) of a
regionalized variable
over some distance

Other topics in spatial

Metapopulation Models: A set of partially isolated populations
statistics.

belonging to the same species. The populations are able to

exchange individuals and recolonize sites in which the species
has recently become extinct.

Spatial patterns in the moose-forest-soil

ecosystem on Isle Royale, Michigan USA
J. Pastor et al.

Spatial patterns in the moose-forest-soil

ecosystem on Isle Royale, Michigan USA
J. Pastor et al.
Observations:

Hypotheses:

Results:

Spatial patterns in the moose-forest-soil

ecosystem on Isle Royale, Michigan USA
J. Pastor et al.
Observations:

Hypotheses:

Moose preferentially forage on aspen and avoid

conifers.
If moose browsing causes a shift in dominance
from hardwoods to conifers across adjacent
areas, we should expect corresponding changes
in soil nutrient availability over the landscape.

Results:

What was the study about?

Examine the largescale landscape

distribution of moose browsing intensity in
relation to plant community composition and
size structure, as well as soil nitrogen
availability.

Do moose control plant community composition

and soil nitrogen at large scales?

What did they measure?

Available browse.
Annual consumption by moose.
Soil nitrogen availability.

What did Pastor conclude?

No differences in nitrogen availability or

consumption due to slope or aspect.

Spatial patterns not caused by topographic relief.

Patterns are a result of dynamic interactions

between moose foraging and plant
communities.
Uncommonly strong impact for a large
mammal.
This patterns has occurred in less than 50
generations.

Why are things spatially

autocorrelated?

Environment

Examples: soil, climate, moisture, ...

Interactions

Examples: competition, herbivory, mutualism