IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0049395.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Accessible Method for Implementing Hierarchical Models with Spatio-Temporal Abundance Data

Author

Listed:
  • Beth E Ross
  • Mevin B Hooten
  • David N Koons

Abstract

A common goal in ecology and wildlife management is to determine the causes of variation in population dynamics over long periods of time and across large spatial scales. Many assumptions must nevertheless be overcome to make appropriate inference about spatio-temporal variation in population dynamics, such as autocorrelation among data points, excess zeros, and observation error in count data. To address these issues, many scientists and statisticians have recommended the use of Bayesian hierarchical models. Unfortunately, hierarchical statistical models remain somewhat difficult to use because of the necessary quantitative background needed to implement them, or because of the computational demands of using Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms to estimate parameters. Fortunately, new tools have recently been developed that make it more feasible for wildlife biologists to fit sophisticated hierarchical Bayesian models (i.e., Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation, ‘INLA’). We present a case study using two important game species in North America, the lesser and greater scaup, to demonstrate how INLA can be used to estimate the parameters in a hierarchical model that decouples observation error from process variation, and accounts for unknown sources of excess zeros as well as spatial and temporal dependence in the data. Ultimately, our goal was to make unbiased inference about spatial variation in population trends over time.

Suggested Citation

  • Beth E Ross & Mevin B Hooten & David N Koons, 2012. "An Accessible Method for Implementing Hierarchical Models with Spatio-Temporal Abundance Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(11), pages 1-8, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0049395
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049395
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0049395
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0049395&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0049395?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Håvard Rue & Sara Martino & Nicolas Chopin, 2009. "Approximate Bayesian inference for latent Gaussian models by using integrated nested Laplace approximations," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 71(2), pages 319-392, April.
    2. Keith A Hobson & Michael B Wunder & Steven L Van Wilgenburg & Robert G Clark & Leonard I Wassenaar, 2009. "A Method for Investigating Population Declines of Migratory Birds Using Stable Isotopes: Origins of Harvested Lesser Scaup in North America," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(11), pages 1-10, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carson, Stuart & Mills Flemming, Joanna, 2014. "Seal encounters at sea: A contemporary spatial approach using R-INLA," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 291(C), pages 175-181.
    2. Zhao, Qing & Boomer, G. Scott & Silverman, Emily & Fleming, Kathy, 2017. "Accounting for the temporal variation of spatial effect improves inference and projection of population dynamics models," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 360(C), pages 252-259.
    3. Matt Higham & Michael Dumelle & Carly Hammond & Jay Hoef & Jeff Wells, 2024. "An Application of Spatio-Temporal Modeling to Finite Population Abundance Prediction," Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, Springer;The International Biometric Society;American Statistical Association, vol. 29(3), pages 491-515, September.
    4. Kitty Lymperopoulou & Jon Bannister & Karolina Krzemieniewska-Nandwani, 2022. "Inequality in Exposure to Crime, Social Disorganization and Collective Efficacy: Evidence from Greater Manchester, United Kingdom," The British Journal of Criminology, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, vol. 62(4), pages 1019-1035.
    5. Rufener, Marie-Christine & Kinas, Paul Gerhard & Nóbrega, Marcelo Francisco & Lins Oliveira, Jorge Eduardo, 2017. "Bayesian spatial predictive models for data-poor fisheries," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 348(C), pages 125-134.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nikoline N. Knudsen & Jörg Schullehner & Birgitte Hansen & Lisbeth F. Jørgensen & Søren M. Kristiansen & Denitza D. Voutchkova & Thomas A. Gerds & Per K. Andersen & Kristine Bihrmann & Morten Grønbæk , 2017. "Lithium in Drinking Water and Incidence of Suicide: A Nationwide Individual-Level Cohort Study with 22 Years of Follow-Up," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-13, June.
    2. Leonardo Padilla & Bernado Lagos‐Álvarez & Jorge Mateu & Emilio Porcu, 2020. "Space‐time autoregressive estimation and prediction with missing data based on Kalman filtering," Environmetrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(7), November.
    3. Scott, Ryan P. & Scott, Tyler A., 2019. "Investing in collaboration for safety: Assessing grants to states for oil and gas distribution pipeline safety program enhancement," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 332-345.
    4. Cho, Daegon & Hwang, Youngdeok & Park, Jongwon, 2018. "More buzz, more vibes: Impact of social media on concert distribution," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 103-113.
    5. Brown, Paul T. & Joshi, Chaitanya & Joe, Stephen & Rue, Håvard, 2021. "A novel method of marginalisation using low discrepancy sequences for integrated nested Laplace approximations," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    6. Andre Python & Andreas Bender & Marta Blangiardo & Janine B. Illian & Ying Lin & Baoli Liu & Tim C.D. Lucas & Siwei Tan & Yingying Wen & Davit Svanidze & Jianwei Yin, 2022. "A downscaling approach to compare COVID‐19 count data from databases aggregated at different spatial scales," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(1), pages 202-218, January.
    7. Michaela Prokešová & Eva Jensen, 2013. "Asymptotic Palm likelihood theory for stationary point processes," Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Springer;The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, vol. 65(2), pages 387-412, April.
    8. Shreosi Sanyal & Thierry Rochereau & Cara Nichole Maesano & Laure Com-Ruelle & Isabella Annesi-Maesano, 2018. "Long-Term Effect of Outdoor Air Pollution on Mortality and Morbidity: A 12-Year Follow-Up Study for Metropolitan France," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-8, November.
    9. Mayer Alvo & Jingrui Mu, 2023. "COVID-19 Data Analysis Using Bayesian Models and Nonparametric Geostatistical Models," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-13, March.
    10. Daniela Silva & Raquel Menezes & Ana Moreno & Ana Teles-Machado & Susana Garrido, 2024. "Environmental Effects on the Spatiotemporal Variability of Sardine Distribution Along the Portuguese Continental Coast," Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, Springer;The International Biometric Society;American Statistical Association, vol. 29(3), pages 553-575, September.
    11. David Jiménez-Hernández & Víctor González-Calatayud & Ana Torres-Soto & Asunción Martínez Mayoral & Javier Morales, 2020. "Digital Competence of Future Secondary School Teachers: Differences According to Gender, Age, and Branch of Knowledge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-16, November.
    12. Vanessa Santos-Sánchez & Juan Antonio Córdoba-Doña & Javier García-Pérez & Antonio Escolar-Pujolar & Lucia Pozzi & Rebeca Ramis, 2020. "Cancer Mortality and Deprivation in the Proximity of Polluting Industrial Facilities in an Industrial Region of Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-15, March.
    13. Simon N. Wood & Natalya Pya & Benjamin Säfken, 2016. "Smoothing Parameter and Model Selection for General Smooth Models," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 111(516), pages 1548-1563, October.
    14. Yuan Yan & Eva Cantoni & Chris Field & Margaret Treble & Joanna Mills Flemming, 2023. "Spatiotemporal modeling of mature‐at‐length data using a sliding window approach," Environmetrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(2), March.
    15. Gael M. Martin & David T. Frazier & Christian P. Robert, 2020. "Computing Bayes: Bayesian Computation from 1763 to the 21st Century," Monash Econometrics and Business Statistics Working Papers 14/20, Monash University, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.
    16. Xin Jin, 2021. "Can we imitate the principal investor's behavior to learn option price?," Papers 2105.11376, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    17. Jamie L. Cross & Chenghan Hou & Aubrey Poon, 2018. "International Transmission of Macroeconomic Uncertainty in Small Open Economies: An Empirical Approach," Working Papers No 12/2018, Centre for Applied Macro- and Petroleum economics (CAMP), BI Norwegian Business School.
    18. Massimo Bilancia & Giacomo Demarinis, 2014. "Bayesian scanning of spatial disease rates with integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA)," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 23(1), pages 71-94, March.
    19. Soutik Ghosal & Timothy S. Lau & Jeremy Gaskins & Maiying Kong, 2020. "A hierarchical mixed effect hurdle model for spatiotemporal count data and its application to identifying factors impacting health professional shortages," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1121-1144, November.
    20. Douglas R. M. Azevedo & Marcos O. Prates & Dipankar Bandyopadhyay, 2021. "MSPOCK: Alleviating Spatial Confounding in Multivariate Disease Mapping Models," Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, Springer;The International Biometric Society;American Statistical Association, vol. 26(3), pages 464-491, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0049395. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.