Similarity Indices in Community Studies: Potential Pitfalls
نویسنده
چکیده
Four common similarity indices used in multivariate descriptive techniques, such as classifications and trellis diagrams, are compared over a range of overlap from 100 to 10 % to a theoretical standard. Only the Bray-Curtis Index (also known as Czekanowski's Quantitative Index, Proportional Similarity and a variety of other names) was found to reflect accurately true similarity. The other indices (Canberra Metric, Morisita's and Horn's Information Theory) diverge greatly from one another and from the theoretical standard.
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