Phytosociological Analysis: Exploration and Visualization of Vegetation Inventories

This workflow streamlines the export, preprocessing, and analysis of phytosociological inventories from a project database. The workflow's goals include exporting and preprocessing inventories, conducting statistical analyses, and using interactive graphs to visualize species dominance, altitudinal distribution, average coverage, similarity clusters, and species interactions. It also calculates and visualizes the fidelity index for species co-occurrence.

This workflow addresses key scientific questions about dominant species, distribution patterns, species coverage, inventory similarity, species interactions, and co-occurrence probabilities, aiding efficient vegetation management in environmental projects.

Background

Efficient vegetation management in environmental projects necessitates a detailed analysis of phytosociological inventories. This workflow streamlines the export and preprocessing of vegetation inventories from the project database. Subsequently, it conducts various statistical analyses and graphical representations, offering a comprehensive view of plant composition and interactions.

Introduction

In the realm of vegetation research, the availability of phytosociological data is paramount. This workflow empowers users to specify parameters for exporting vegetation inventories, performs preprocessing, and conducts diverse statistical analyses. The resulting insights are visually represented through interactive graphs, highlighting predominant species, altitudinal ranges of plant communities, average species coverage, similarity clusters, and interactive species interactions.

Aims

The primary objectives of this workflow are tailored to address specific challenges and goals inherent in the analysis of phytosociological inventories:

1. Export and Preprocess Inventories: Enable the export and preprocessing of phytosociological inventories stored in the project database.

2. Statistical Analyses of Species and Plant Communities: Conduct detailed statistical analyses on the species and plant communities present in the inventories.

3. Interactive Graphical Representation: Utilize interactive graphs to represent predominant species, altitudinal ranges of plant communities, and average species coverage.

4. Similarity Dendrogram: Generate a dendrogram grouping similar phytosociological inventories based on the similarity of their species content.

5. Interactive Species Interaction Analysis: Visualize species interactions through interactive graphs, facilitating the identification of species that tend to coexist.

6. Calculation and Visualization of Fidelity Index: Calculate the fidelity index between species and visually represent the probability of two or more species co-occurring in the same inventory.

Scientific Questions

This workflow addresses critical scientific questions related to the analysis of phytosociological inventories:

- Dominant Species Identification: Which species emerge as predominant in the phytosociological inventories, and what is their frequency of occurrence?

- Altitudinal Distribution Patterns: How are plant communities distributed across altitudinal ranges, and are there discernible patterns?

- Average Species Coverage Assessment: What is the average coverage of plant species, and how does it vary across different inventories?

- Similarity in Inventory Content: How are phytosociological inventories grouped based on the similarity of their species content?

- Species Interaction Dynamics: Which species exhibit notable interactive dynamics, and how can these interactions be visualized?

- Fidelity Between Species: What is the likelihood that two or more species co-occur in the same inventory, and how does this fidelity vary across species pairs?