Book Description

An Introduction to Numerical Classification describes the rationale of numerical analyses by means of geometrical models or worked examples without possible extensive algebraic symbolism. Organized into 13 chapters, the book covers both the taxonomic and ecological aspects of numerical classification. After briefly presenting different terminologies used in this work, the book examines several types of biological classification, including classification by structure, proximity, similarity, and difference. It then describes various ecological and taxonomic data manipulations, such as data reduction, transformation, and standardization. Other chapters deal with the criteria for best computer classification and the complexities and difficulties in this classification. These difficulties are illustrated by reference to studies of the ""bottom communities"" of benthic marine invertebrates, ranging across the entire field from the sampling program and nature of the data to problems over the type of computer used. The concluding chapters consider some of the measures of diversity and the interpretations which have been made from them, as well as the relationship of diversity to classification. The concept and application in biological classification of various multivariate analyses are also discussed in these texts. Supplemental texts on the information measures, partitioning, and interdependence of data diversity are also provided. This book is of value to biologists and researchers who are interested in basic biological numerical classification.