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Computational Ecology and Software, 2011, 1(2): 121-124
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Short Communication

Detecting ecological breakpoints: a new tool for piecewise regression

Alessandro Ferrarini
Department of Evolutionary and Functional Biology, University of Parma, Via G. Saragat 4, I-43100 Parma, Italy

Received 7 February 2011; Accepted 13 February 2011; Published online 15 Junel 2011
IAEES

Abstract
Simple linear regression tries to determine a linear relationship between a given variable X (predictor) and a dependent variable Y. Since most of the environmental problems involve complex relationships, X-Y relationship is often better modeled through a regression where, instead of fitting a single straight line to the data, the algorithm allows the fitting to bend. Piecewise regressions just do it, since they allow emphasize local, instead of global, rules connecting predictor and dependent variables. In this work, a tool called RolReg is proposed as an implementation of Krummel's method to detect breakpoints in regression models. RolReg, which is freely available upon request from the author, could useful to detect proper breakpoints in ecological laws.

Keywords ecological breakpoints; piecewise regression; rolling regression; moving window regression; GIS.

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