SPATIAL AUTOCORRELATION AND AUTOREGRESSIVE MODELS IN ECOLOGY

Recognition and analysis of spatial autocorrelation has defined a new paradigm in ecology. Attention to spatial pattern can lead to insights that would have been otherwise overlooked, while ignoring space may lead to false conclusions about ecological relationships. We used Gaussian spatial autoregressive models, fit with widely available software, to examine breeding habitat relationships for three common Neotropical migrant songbirds in the southern Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, USA. In preliminary models that ignored space, the abundance of all three species was correlated with both local- and landscape-scale habitat variables. These models were then modified to account for…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• NC
  North Carolina State University