Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) is a standardized method for
rating the ecological value of natural areas based on the plant species
found within them (Spyreas 2019; Swink, Wilhelm,
-et al. 1994). Each species considered native to a particular
+et al. 1994). Each species known to be found in a particular
region is assigned a coefficient of conservatism, C, on a scale
-of 0-10 by experts in local flora (non-native species are assigned a
-zero C-value by default). Larger values of C correspond to species that
-tend to be found in undegraded sites, while lower values indicate
-species that are more tolerant to human impacts (Bauer 2018). An inventory of the site is
+of 0-10 by experts in local flora (non-native species are generally
+assigned a zero C-value by default). Larger values of C correspond to
+species that tend to be found in undegraded sites, while lower values
+indicate species that are more tolerant to human impacts (Bauer 2018). An inventory of the site is
conducted and the average of the C-values found there is computed. This
native mean C-value, sometimes weighted by the total number of
plant species identified to give the so-called floristic quality
@@ -403,8 +403,8 @@ Summary
hundred floristic quality databases. This large public data cache
represents a potentially invaluable resource for quantitative
ecologists, though it has so far gone largely unexplored due to a lack
-of both technical tools for interacting programatically with the
-repository and statistical methods for analyzing the floristic quality
+of both technical tools for interacting programmatically with the
+repository and accessible workflows for analyzing the floristic quality
data housed there.
fqar is an R (R Core Team
2022) package which facilitates the analysis of occurrence and
@@ -425,20 +425,24 @@
The fqar package enables analysis with a wider lens,
-allowing users to consider database-wide records of plant taxa or
-characteristics. By examining entire collections of assessments
-simultaneously, ecologists may gain insights into floristic quality
-assessment as well as the various plant species it tracks. Among the
-wide range of questions made answerable by fqar are the
-following:
This package compliments existing R packages for floristic quality
+analysis, including fqacalc and fqadata, which
+support the work of field practitioners wishing to make use of R (Foxfoot 2023a, 2023b). The fqar
+package enables analysis with a wider lens, allowing users to consider
+database-wide records of plant taxa or characteristics. By examining
+entire collections of assessments simultaneously, ecologists may gain
+insights into floristic quality assessment as well as the various plant
+species it tracks. Among the wide range of questions made answerable by
+fqar are the following:
what is the co-occurrence profile of a given species of interest? What other plants (or types of plants) is it most frequently identified alongside?
which species in a given database might be misclassified? Based -on their co-occurrence profiles, might some be more or less conservative -than previously thought?
which species in a given database might be misclassified based on +their co-occurrence profiles? It is to be expected that, on average, 9’s +and 10’s will tend to be found among higher conservancy flora than 0’s +and 1’s. Species that radically depart from this expectation would be +candidates for re-evaluation.
what species are most commonly identified in certain regions? Which have been reported seldom or not at all?
which non-native species have become widespread in particular @@ -547,6 +551,14 @@