Imputation of environmental variables for vegetation plots based on compositional similarity

0369228 - BÚ 2012 RIV SE eng J - Journal Article
Tichý, L. - Hájek, Michal - Zelený, D.
Imputation of environmental variables for vegetation plots based on compositional similarity.
Journal of Vegetation Science. Roč. 21, č. 1 (2010), s. 88-95. ISSN 1100-9233. E-ISSN 1654-1103
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60050516
Keywords : Ellenberg indicator values * phytosociology * water pH
Subject RIV: EF - Botanics
Impact factor: 2.457, year: 2010

Vegetation plot data combined with measured environmental variables such as soil pH or conductivity are often used for gradient analyses, species response modelling, quantifying recent vegetation change and prediction of plant species composition. Large vegetation databases contain high numbers of plots, but only small subsets with measured environmental data. To obtain broader datasets, researchers often use expert-based plant indicator values as surrogates of measured factors. Alternatively, missing environmental factors for vegetation plots may be estimated by imputation. In this study we tested whether imputation provides more exact approximations than do indicator values. We developed a simple imputation method based on vegetation plot similarity that estimates the missing environmental variables for vegetation plots, and named it the MOSS (mean of similar samples) method.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0203347