Rings, circles, and null‐models for point pattern analysis in ecology

A large number of methods for the analysis of point pattern data have been developed in a wide range of scientific fields. First‐order statistics describe large‐scale variation in the intensity of points in a study region, whereas second‐order characteristics are summary statistics of all point‐to‐point distances in a mapped area and offer the potential for detecting both different types and scales of patterns. Second‐order analysis based on Ripley's K‐function is increasingly used in ecology to characterize spatial patterns and to develop hypothesis on underlying processes; however, the full range of available methods has seldomly been applied by ecologists. The aim of this paper is to provide guidance to…