New progress in the spatiotemporal scale analysis of species dynamics

Scale effects significantly affect the rationality and accuracy of ecological models, which are crucial for understanding the temporal dynamics and spatial dependencies of research objects and ecological processes. With the advancement of intelligent monitoring technology, measuring and accumulating spatiotemporal data has become increasingly feasible, providing opportunities to reveal the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of biodiversity. However, this also presents new challenges for analyzing such data. Currently, few studies simultaneously analyze and compare the changing patterns of populations or communities across temporal and spatial scales, highlighting the necessity of exploring their synchrony characteristics at spatiotemporal scales.

Based on empirical data and numerical simulation methods, this study proposed a coupled space-time scale analysis framework, revealing potential deficiencies in traditional scale research. The findings indicated that this method can simultaneously identify and locate the scale characteristics and distribution ranges within species’ spatiotemporal pattern changes, particularly concerning the synchrony and amplitude of temporal changes (or spatial patterns) across multiple locations (or times). Focusing on Rajiformes, the study uncovered the 13-year temporal variation characteristics of their biomass and the potential impacts of spatial scale, enhancing our understanding of global fishery resource fluctuations. This suggests that the spatiotemporal patterns and scale characteristics obtained through coupled scale analysis will be more comprehensive and accurate. Moreover, this method can effectively identify complex pattern features arising from multi-temporal and multi-spatial scale combinations while reducing errors in practical applications. The study further emphasized the importance of scale effects in spatiotemporal pattern analysis, with results applicable to future identification and prediction of biodiversity spatiotemporal patterns, as well as supporting biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use and management of biological resources.

The research results, titled "Coupled space-time scale analysis for obtaining enhanced accuracy in species dynamics" have been published in the international ecology science journal Ecological Informatics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102776. Dr. Zhangqi Ding, a postdoctoral fellow at the South China Botanical Garden, is the first author of the paper, while the corresponding author is Professor Zhanfeng Liu, the research group leader.

Figure. Features of the Rajiformes fishery catch data after modification.