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bioRxiv · 10.1101/692566

SILand: an R package for estimating the spatial influence of landscape

Carpentier, F.·Martin, O.
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Abstract

ContextThe spatial distributions of species and populations are both influenced by local variables and by characteristics of surrounding landscapes. Understanding how landscape features spatially structure the frequency of a trait in a population, the abundance of a species or the species richness remains difficult specially because the spatial scale effects of the landscape variables are often unknown. ObjectivesHere, we present "siland", an R package for analyzing the effect of landscape features on georeferenced point observations (described in a Geographic Information System shapefile format). Methods & Results"siland" simultaneously estimates the spatial scales and intensities of landscape variable effects. It does not require any information about the scale of effect. Two methods are available: one is based on focal sample site (Bsiland method, b for buffer) and one is distance weighted using Spatial Influence Function (Fsiland method, f for function). siland allows for effects tests, effects maps and models comparison. ConclusionsAdaptable and user-friendly, the "siland" package is a very practical tool to perform landscape analysis.

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Carpentier, F., Martin, O.. 2019-07-04. SILand: an R package for estimating the spatial influence of landscape. https://doi.org/10.1101/692566

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