Reexamining Sample Size Requirements for Multivariate, Abundance-Based Community Research: When Resources are Limited, the Research Does Not Have to Be.
Reexamining Sample Size Requirements for Multivariate, Abundance-Based Community Research: When Resources are Limited, the Research Does Not Have to Be.
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0128379
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发表时间：
2015
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Cahill JF
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Forcino FL;Leighton LR;Twerdy P;Cahill JF
社区生态学家通常使用多变量技术（例如排序、聚类分析）来评估分类变异的模式和梯度。有意义的统计分析的关键要求是有关生态样本中发现的分类单元的准确信息。然而，过度采样（每个样本计数太多个体）也会付出代价，特别是对于生态系统来说，识别和量化比实地考察本身消耗的资源要多得多。在此类系统中，越来越大的样本量最终将导致改善数据所揭示的任何模式或梯度的回报递减，但也会导致成本不断增加。在这里，我们检查了 396 个数据集：44 个之前发布的数据集和 352 个创建的数据集。使用荟萃分析和基于模拟的方法，本论文的研究旨在（1）确定在进行基于丰度的群落生态学研究时产生稳健的多元统计结果所需的最小样本量。此外，我们寻求（2）来确定需要更大样本量的数据集参数（即均匀度、类群数量、样本数量），无论资源可用性如何。我们发现，在先前发布的 44 个数据集和随机选择丰度的 220 个创建的数据集中，对 58 个样本量的保守估计产生了与所有较大样本量相同的多变量结果。然而，这个最小数量随着均匀度的函数而变化，其中均匀度的增加导致最小样本量的增加。小至 58 人的样本量足以进行广泛的基于多变量丰度的研究。如果资源可用性是开展项目的限制因素（例如，小型大学、开展研究项目的时间），仍然可以用较少的投资获得统计上可行的结果。
Community ecologists commonly perform multivariate techniques (e.g., ordination, cluster analysis) to assess patterns and gradients of taxonomic variation. A critical requirement for a meaningful statistical analysis is accurate information on the taxa found within an ecological sample. However, oversampling (too many individuals counted per sample) also comes at a cost, particularly for ecological systems in which identification and quantification is substantially more resource consuming than the field expedition itself. In such systems, an increasingly larger sample size will eventually result in diminishing returns in improving any pattern or gradient revealed by the data, but will also lead to continually increasing costs. Here, we examine 396 datasets: 44 previously published and 352 created datasets. Using meta-analytic and simulation-based approaches, the research within the present paper seeks (1) to determine minimal sample sizes required to produce robust multivariate statistical results when conducting abundance-based, community ecology research. Furthermore, we seek (2) to determine the dataset parameters (i.e., evenness, number of taxa, number of samples) that require larger sample sizes, regardless of resource availability. We found that in the 44 previously published and the 220 created datasets with randomly chosen abundances, a conservative estimate of a sample size of 58 produced the same multivariate results as all larger sample sizes. However, this minimal number varies as a function of evenness, where increased evenness resulted in increased minimal sample sizes. Sample sizes as small as 58 individuals are sufficient for a broad range of multivariate abundance-based research. In cases when resource availability is the limiting factor for conducting a project (e.g., small university, time to conduct the research project), statistically viable results can still be obtained with less of an investment.
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影响因子：
1.6
作者：
Bennington, JB;Rutherford, SD
通讯作者：
Rutherford, SD
影响因子：
2.7
作者：
Biro, Peter A.
通讯作者：
Biro, Peter A.
影响因子：
6.1
作者：
de Roos, AM;Leonardsson, K;Mittelbach, GG
通讯作者：
Mittelbach, GG
DOI：
10.1139/f72-046
发表时间：
1972-01-01
期刊：
JOURNAL OF THE FISHERIES RESEARCH BOARD OF CANADA
影响因子：
--
作者：
DECHTIAR, AO
通讯作者：
DECHTIAR, AO
影响因子：
8.8
作者：
Chao, A;Chazdon, RL;Shen, TJ
通讯作者：
Shen, TJ