Introduction to the new SADIE method for spatial association

Recently, an extension of SADIE methodology for spatial association has allowed the
calculation and mapping of local association. This is based on a comparison of the
local cluster indices for each of the two sets of data. An overall index of association
is also available, plus a randomization test and confidence intervals. Examples of the
use of this new method and full details of the underlying theory are given in two
papers, both available for downloading from the SADIE website. These are:

Winder, L., Alexander, C., Holland, J.M., Woolley, C. and Perry, J.N. (2001)
Modelling the dynamic spatio-temporal response of predators to transient prey
patches in the field. Ecology Letters, 4, 568-576. (focuses more on applications)

&

Perry, J.N. & Dixon, P. (2002) A new method to measure spatial association for
ecological count data. Ecoscience, 9(2), 133-141. (focuses more on methodology)

The use of these new methods does not mean that the previous SADIE methodology
(as used in NSADIEA.exe and as published in Perry (1998) Measures of spatial
pattern and spatial association for counts of insects, pp. 21-33 in: Population and
Community Ecology for Insect Management and Conservation. (eds. J. Baumgartner, P.
Brandmayr & B.F.J. Manly). Balkema, Rotterdam) was invalid. It is just that the
previous methodology does not supply as much information as the new methods, in
much the same way that the red-blue cluster indices allow far more interpretation than
the earlier single index of aggregation based on the distance to regularity.

Since November 2001 there is a single, standalone program n_a.exe, based on Fortran
code, that does all the computation necessary. Furthermore, there is a shell called Quick
Association Analysis that serves as a user-friendly, Windows-based front end, in much
the same way as does the more sophisticated SADIEShell for spatial pattern analysis.
The shell is downloadable, separately from this program, from the SADIE website.

What’s in the zip file: new_ass_ method.zip

A graphical overview of the system is given in the figure sadiesys.pdf, including the
relationship between spatial analysis for one and for two sets. The three tiers of the
procedure are: (1) spatial pattern analysis, including obtaining as output files the
cluster indices of the two sets; (2) renaming these output files and using them as input
files to the spatial association program n_a.exe; (3) mapping the spatial association
output using a program like Surfer.
The programs in this zip file new_ass_method.zip are:
1) documentation for the program n_a.exe, in file readme_new_ass.pdf;
2) graphical overview of the system, in file sadiesys.pdf
3) the program n_a.exe
4) the Fortran source code in file n_a.for
5) example input files: n_ai4.dat, n_ai5.dat, n_ai8.dat
6) various example SURFER input, output and .lvl files, showing how the output
from n_a.exe may be used to generate a range of possible maps of local association,
and categorized co-occurrences of cluster indices. These files are bundled into the zip
file surfer_files.zip.
7) a friendly warning as to the reason why, if things are going wrong, in file
friendly_warning.pdf.
8) this file, what_is_in_the_new_ass_method_zip_file.pdf

Good luck!

Joe Perry 5 August 2002