Abstract
This chapter looks at a data set where our first reaction was: ‘How in heavens name are we going to analyse these data?’ The data consist of a large number of phytoplankton species measured at 31 stations in Dutch estuarine and marine waters. Measurements took place 0–4 times per month from 1990 until present (2005). Environmental data (e.g. temperature, salinity, etc.) were also measured, albeit sometimes at different sampling times! The statistical analysis of these data is complicated for several reasons:
-
1.
Environmental variables and phytoplankton variables were not always measured at the same time.
-
2.
There may be temporal correlation, there may be spatial correlation, and both correlation structures may be complicated.
-
3.
The data contain a large number of species.
-
4.
The data are irregularly spaced.
-
5.
There may be heterogeneity over time (e.g. more variation in summer than in winter).
-
6.
Trends over time and in space may be non-linear.
-
7.
The phytoplankton data were counted by different laboratories.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
We used R version 2.6 and mgcv version 1.3–27. More recent versions of R and mgcv require a small modification to the code; see the book website (www.highstat.com) for updated code.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Zuur, A., Latuhihin, M., Ieno, E., Baretta-Bekker, J., Smith, G., Walker, N. (2009). Additive Mixed Modelling Applied on Phytoplankton Time Series Data. In: Mixed effects models and extensions in ecology with R. Statistics for Biology and Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87458-6_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87458-6_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-87457-9
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-87458-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)