Statistical models of environment-abundance relationships may be influenced by spatial autocorrelation in abundance, environmental variables, or both. Failure to account for spatial autocorrelation can lead to incorrect conclusions regarding both the absolute and relative importance of environmental variables as determinants of abundance.
Concepts of spatial scale, such as extent, grain, resolution, range, footprint, support and cartographic ratio are not interchangeable. Because of the potential confusion among the definitions of these terms, we suggest that authors avoid the term ¿¿scale¿¿ and instead refer to specific concepts. In particular, we are careful to discriminate between observation scales, scales of ecological phenomena and scales used in spatial statistical analysis.
The pattern of woody species richness decline with a decrease in woody vegetation cover was studied within a tallgrass prairie. The decline in species richness is highly nonâ€linear, with a wellâ€defined threshold below which species richness collapses. This relationship can be understood after considering information on how landscape structure changes with woody vegetation cover, and how species richness is related to landscape structure.