Table 1 Examples of composites in ecology.
From: A flexible way to study composites in ecology using structural equation modeling
Ecology field | Composite | Components | SEM approach used | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Plant ecology | Plant community structure | \(\bullet\) Plant biomass of C3 grasses | Two-step approach | Antoninka et al.27 |
\(\bullet\) Plant biomass of C4 grasses | ||||
\(\bullet\) Plant biomass of herbaceous forbs | ||||
\(\bullet\) Plant biomass of N-fixing legumes | ||||
Light effect | \(\bullet\) Light | One-step approach | Grace et al.1 | |
\(\bullet\) Lightlog (natural logarithm of light) | ||||
Soil conditions | \(\bullet\) Soil texture | Two-step approach | Verheyen et al.30 | |
\(\bullet\) Soil moisture | ||||
\(\bullet\) Soil pH | ||||
Land-use history and spatial isolation | \(\bullet\) Secondary forest age | Two-step approach | Verheyen et al.30 | |
\(\bullet\) Species-specific distances from colonization sources | ||||
Canopy structure | \(\bullet\) Log-transformed basal area of the shrubs | Two-step approach | Verheyen et al.30 | |
\(\bullet\) Cover of competitive herbs | ||||
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal abundance | \(\bullet\) Mycorrhizal infection potential bioassay | Unclear | Chaudhary et al.31 | |
\(\bullet\) Hyphal density | ||||
\(\bullet\) Glomalin-related soil protein concentration | ||||
\(\bullet\) Spore abundance | ||||
Abiotic conditions | \(\bullet\) Soil salinity | PLS & SEM | Gough and Grace32 | |
\(\bullet\) Flooding stress | ||||
\(\bullet\) Percentage soil carbon | ||||
Abiotic factors | \(\bullet\) Elevation | Two-step approach | Laughlin and Abella33 | |
\(\bullet\) Soil pH | ||||
\(\bullet\) Clay concentration | ||||
\(\bullet\) Organic matter | ||||
\(\bullet\) Soil nitrogen | ||||
Animal ecology | Grazing intensity | \(\bullet\) Recent grazing intensity by all herbivores | Two-step approach | Eldridge29 |
\(\bullet\) Historic grazing intensity by livestock | ||||
Predation risk | \(\bullet\) Woody cover | One-step approach | Hopcraft20 | |
\(\bullet\) Distance to drainages | ||||
\(\bullet\) Landscape curvature | ||||
Macrohabitat type | \(\bullet\) Lake (a type of wetlands) | One-step approach | Grace34 | |
\(\bullet\) Impound (a type of wetlands) | ||||
\(\bullet\) Swale (a type of wetlands) | ||||
Global ecology | Climate | \(\bullet\) Temperature | Two-step approach | Hu et al.35 |
\(\bullet\) Precipitation | ||||
Soil textural | \(\bullet\) Carbon to nitrogen ratio | One-step approach | Jones et al.19 | |
\(\bullet\) Percent loam | ||||
\(\bullet\) Soil organic matter | ||||
Soil mineral | \(\bullet\) Zinc (Zn) concentration | One-step approach | Jones et al.19 | |
\(\bullet\) Iron (Fe) concentration | ||||
\(\bullet\) Phosphorus (P) concentration |
