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The Spatial Distribution of Microbes in the Environment pp 31–60Cite as

Statistical Analysis Of Spatial Structure In Microbial Communities

Overview of methods and approaches

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This chapter provides a review of the basic statistical techniques used to detect and quantify spatial structure in ecological data as they can be applied to the analysis of microbial communities. It also discusses the general implications of spatial structure in data analysis, including the inappropriate use of parametric statistical tests with spatially autocorrelated data, and suggests possible alternative procedures. Methods discussed include geostatistics and variogram analysis, kriging, correlograms, Mantel and partial Mantel tests, and time-series analysis. Keywords: spatial structure, microbial communities, statistical analysis, autocorrelation, geostatistics, kriging, scale, spatial autocorrelation

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 23284, Richmond, VA, USA

    Rima B. Franklin

  2. Laboratory of Microbial Ecology, University of Virginia, 22904-4123, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Aaron L. Mills

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  1. Rima B. Franklin
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  1. Virginia Commonwealth University, 23284, Richmond, VA, USA

    Rima B. Franklin

  2. University of Virginia, 22904-4123, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Aaron L. Mills

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Franklin, R.B., Mills, A.L. (2007). Statistical Analysis Of Spatial Structure In Microbial Communities. In: Franklin, R.B., Mills, A.L. (eds) The Spatial Distribution of Microbes in the Environment. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6216-2_2

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