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count data

2 messages · Sacha Viquerat, ONKELINX, Thierry

#
hello dear list! I wonder about the layout of my csv for my study design:

i have 11 different sites.

each site had been visited 9 times.

on each visit, 6 distinctive water parameters had been taken ONCE on 
each visit (as continuous variables).

on each visit, the fish abundance was counted using a net at 3 different 
locations within the site (count data).

I know i will have to do an lmer using the nested locations as error 
term. Question is: how to organize my data, since i have abundances from 
the same 3 locations per site replicate but only one water parameter 
measurement per site replicate. to give you an idea, heres the basic 
look so far of my csv:


site    location    abundance    pH    no3    and so on...
A    1        12        7.1    0.003    ...
A    2        15        7.1    0.003    ...
A    3        18        7.1    0.003    ...
B    1        11        7.4    0.004    ...
B    2        8        7.4    0.004    ...
B    3        17        7.4    0.004    ...
A    1        13        7.2    0.001    ...
A    2        19        7.2    0.001    ...
A    3        21        7.2    0.001    ...
B    1        9        6.9    0.002    ...
B    2        5        6.9    0.002    ...
B    3        2        6.9    0.002    ...

i just made up the table to give an idea how the data looks like. the 
goal would be to analyze fish abundance ~ water parameters, does anyone 
have a suggestion?

thanks in advance!
#
Dear Sacha,

Do you revisit the same locations per site? If so, use (1|site/location) as random effect. Otherwise use just (1|site). You might want to add a crossed random effect (1|date) if you can expect an effect of phenology.

Best regards,

Thierry

PS R-sig-mixed-models is a better list for this kind of questions.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ir. Thierry Onkelinx
Instituut voor natuur- en bosonderzoek
team Biometrie & Kwaliteitszorg
Gaverstraat 4
9500 Geraardsbergen
Belgium

Research Institute for Nature and Forest
team Biometrics & Quality Assurance
Gaverstraat 4
9500 Geraardsbergen
Belgium

tel. + 32 54/436 185
Thierry.Onkelinx at inbo.be
www.inbo.be

To call in the statistician after the experiment is done may be no more than asking him to perform a post-mortem examination: he may be able to say what the experiment died of.
~ Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher

The plural of anecdote is not data.
~ Roger Brinner

The combination of some data and an aching desire for an answer does not ensure that a reasonable answer can be extracted from a given body of data.
~ John Tukey