Plant Spacing: A Size Sensitive Model With Implications for Competition

An algorithm is presented which partitions space among mapped plants according to their relative sizes and positions using one of eight rules for locating boundaries between individuals. The performance of those rules is examined using several natural and artificial data sets with diverse measures o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bayn, Robert L, Jr.
Format: Others
Published: DigitalCommons@USU 1982
Subjects:
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/2057
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3060&context=etd
Description
Summary:An algorithm is presented which partitions space among mapped plants according to their relative sizes and positions using one of eight rules for locating boundaries between individuals. The performance of those rules is examined using several natural and artificial data sets with diverse measures of individual size. The relative performance of the rules was the same for all natural data sets examined. The best rule, as measured by a high correlation between individual size and assigned space, placed the boundary at a distance between neighbors proportional to the relative sizes of neighbors as long as a maximum distance (also a function of size) was not exceeded. It is inferred that the algorithm identifies contact neighbors and quantifies the extent of their contact. Afield experiment is proposed to test this inference.