The DOI matches its Crossref record; 13 of the 13 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Predictability, Constancy, and Contingency of Periodic Phenomena
Abstract
Temporal patterns in fluctuating physical and biological phenomena are of great interest in several fields of biology, primarily because of their importance as evolutionary constraints. To clarify and simplify the wide variety of terms used to describe aspects of temporal pattern, simple measures of predictability, constancy, and contingency are proposed. These are sufficient to describe the general characteristics of periodic phenomena. The measures are based on the mathematics of information theory. Methods of testing the statistical significance of these measures are given. Predictability, constancy, and contingency can be determined for either qualitative (categorical) or quantitative (discrete or continuous) variables measured over a period of time. Alternative patterns of seasonal flowering and fruiting of tropical trees are given as an example of a qualitative variable; precipitation data are analyzed as an example of a quantitative variable.
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Cites
Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
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Janzen, D. H. (1970) · The American Naturalist · doi:10.1086/282687 · Cited by 4,774
AN INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL ECOLOGY
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Evolution in Changing Environments: Some Theoretical Explorations. (MPB-2)
LEVINS, R. (2020) · Princeton University Press eBooks · doi:10.2307/j.ctvx5wbbh · Cited by 3,383
Latitudinal Gradients in Species Diversity: A Review of Concepts
Pianka, E. R. (1966) · The American Naturalist · doi:10.1086/282398 · Cited by 1,896
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Greig-Smith, P., & Margalef, R. (1971) · The Journal of Ecology · doi:10.2307/2258471 · Cited by 1,771
Populations in a Seasonal Environment.
Cody, M. L., & Fretwell, S. D. (1973) · Evolution · doi:10.2307/2406975 · Cited by 1,681
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Self-citation
Cited by
The serial discontinuity concept: Extending the model to floodplain rivers
Ward, J. V., & Stanford, J. A. (1995) · Regulated Rivers: Research & Management · doi:10.1002/rrr.3450100211 · Cited by 674
A perspective on dryland river ecosystems
Walker, K. F., Sheldon, F., & Puckridge, J. T. (1995) · Regulated Rivers: Research & Management · doi:10.1002/rrr.3450110108 · Cited by 423
Seasonality and predictability shape temporal species diversity
Tonkin, J. D., Bogan, M. T., Bonada, N., Rios‐Touma, B., & Lytle, D. A. (2017) · Ecology · doi:10.1002/ecy.1761 · Cited by 361
The ecology of religious beliefs
Botero, C. A., Gardner, B., Kirby, K. R., Bulbulia, J., Gavin, M. C., & Gray, R. D. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1408701111 · Cited by 203
Pusey, B. J., Arthington, A. H., & Read, M. G. (1993) · Environmental Biology of Fishes · doi:10.1007/bf00005204 · Cited by 112
Metadata
- Authors
- Colwell, R. K.
- Venue
- Ecology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1974-08
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1148-1153
- ISSN
- 0012-9658 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-9170
- OpenAlex
- W2165045575
- Cited by
- 601
- References
- 13
- FWCI
- 3.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
