Select: Select: Determines Species Probabilities Based on Functional...
In Select: Determines Species Probabilities Based on Functional Traits

This package determines species probabilities (i.e., relative abundances) that satisfy a given functional trait profile. Restoring resilient ecosystems requires a flexible framework for selecting assemblages that are based on the functional traits of species. However, current trait-based models have been limited to algorithms that can only select species by optimising specific trait values, and could not elegantly accommodate the common desire among restoration ecologists to produce functionally diverse assemblages. We have solved this problem by applying a non-linear optimisation algorithm that optimises Rao Q, a closed-form functional trait diversity index that incorporates species abundances, subject to other linear constraints. This framework generalises previous models that only optimised the entropy of the community, and can optimise both functional diversity and entropy simultaneously.

The Select package has two functions:

The selectSpecies() function is used to generate species assemblages (relative abundances/probabilities) based on a functional trait profile. The function can constrain the abundances to conform to certain average trait values, and it can simultanesouly optimize functional diveristy.

The plotProbs() function plots the resulting species abundances (probabilities) using the resulting object from the selectSpecies() function.

Select documentation built on May 1, 2019, 10:18 p.m.