Roberto and all:
It would be interesting to know what conclusions are expected to be derived
from this study. Clearly, I do not understand, and therefore am hesitant to
speculate, but I must admit that I wonder what will come of correlating
"hundreds of plant species" with "such as mean annual temperature and
precipitation, frequency of disturbance, or degree of abiotic
stochasticity." It seems to me that mean annual temperature means that
variations are wiped out, thus making conclusions difficult to reach,
especially if [the effects of?]frequency of disturbance is at or near the
core of the investigation's purpose. "Correlation is not [necessarily]
causation" comes to mind. In other words, would it be fair to say that
generalizations could be broadened rather than narrowed? If, by "abiotic
stochasticity" you mean that frequency of disturbance would be random and/or
variable, how can connections be drawn and conclusions reached?
No doubt my questions could be invalidated or explained away in the light of
the study's objectives.
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Salguero-Gomez, Roberto" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 4:03 AM
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Temperature, precipitation, degree of disturbance and
stochasticity by ecoregion or habitat world-wide?
Dear ecologgers,
Some colleagues and I are carrying out a comparative demographic analyses
with hundreds of plant species and are interested in correlating our
findings with abiotic factors such as mean annual temperature and
precipitation, frequency of disturbance, or degree of abiotic stochasticity.
Unfortunately we do not have access to these type of data for the study
sites where the data in our database was censused. Instead, we have
classified those sites following Olson et al. BioSci 2001's ecoregions*.
We've tried to find a publication that offers global values for P, T, degree
of disturbance, degree of stochasticity, etc at this ecoregion or similar
classification level but have not succeeded. We would very much appreciate
if some ecologger could suggest some references. My email contact is
salguero AT demogr.mpg.de.
Many thanks in advance!
Rob et al.
*Olson's ecoregions are:
- Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest
- Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest
- Tropical and subtropical coniferous forest
- Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest
- Temperate coniferous forest
- Boreal forest/Taiga
- Tropical and subtropical grassland, savanna, and shrubland
- Temperate grassland, savanna and shrubland
- Flooded grassland and savanna
- Tundra
- Mediterranean forest, woodland and scrub
- Desert and xeric shrubland
- Mangrove
--
"Aliud iter ad prosperitatem nos est: id est omnibus rebus vincere"
.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.
Rob Salguero-Gómez, PhD
Postdoctoral fellow
Address: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, room 310
Konrad-Zuse-Str. 1. 18057 Rostock, Germany
Office phone: +49 (0) 381.2081-267 (ext. 236)
Fax: +49 (0) 381.2081-567
Email: [email protected]
Skype: robertosalguerogomez
Website: http://sites.google.com/site/RobResearchSite/
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