RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Introducing Meta-Partition, a Useful Methodology to Explore Factors That Influence Ecological Effect Sizes
A1 Ortega Diago, Zaida
A1 Martín Vallejo, Francisco Javier
A1 Mencía Rodríguez, Abraham
A1 Galindo Villardón, Purificación
A1 Pérez Mellado, Valentín
K1 Random-effects models
K1 Regression trees
K1 Human ecology
K1 Metaanalysis
K1 Heterogeneity
K1 Trials
K1 24 Ciencias de la vida
AB [EN] The study of the heterogeneity of effect sizes is a key aspect of ecological meta-analyses. Here we propose a meta-analytic methodology to study the influence of moderators in effect sizes by splitting heterogeneity: meta-partition. To introduce this methodology, we performed a meta-partition of published data about the traits that influence species sensitivity to habitat loss, that have been previously analyzed through meta-regression. Thus, here we aim to introduce meta-partition and to make an initial comparison with meta-regression. Meta-partition algorithm consists of three steps. Step 1 is to study the heterogeneity of effect sizes under the assumption of fixed effect model. If heterogeneity is found, we perform step 2, that is, to partition the heterogeneity by the moderator that minimizes heterogeneity within a subset while maximizing heterogeneity between subsets. Then, if effect sizes of the subset are still heterogeneous, we repeat step 1 and 2 until we reach final subsets. Finally, step 3 is to integrate effect sizes of final subsets, with fixed effect model if there is homogeneity, and with random effects model if there is heterogeneity. Results show that meta-partition is valuable to assess the importance of moderators in explaining heterogeneity of effect sizes, as well as to assess the directions of these relations and to detect possible interactions between moderators. With meta-partition we have been able to evaluate the importance of moderators in a more objective way than with meta-regression, and to visualize the complex relations that may exist between them. As ecological issues are often influenced by several factors interacting in complex ways, ranking the importance of possible moderators and detecting possible interactions would make meta-partition a useful exploration tool for ecological meta-analyses.
PB Public Library of Science (New York)
SN 1932-6203
YR 2016
FD 2016-07
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10366/137238
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10366/137238
LA eng
NO Ortega Z, Martín-Vallejo J, Mencía A, Galindo-Villardón MP, Pérez-Mellado V (2016). Introducing Meta-Partition, a Useful Methodology to Explore Factors That Influence Ecological Effect Sizes. PLoS ONE 11(7)
DS Gestión del Repositorio Documental de la Universidad de Salamanca
RD 19-abr-2024