Spatio-temporal heterogeneity : concepts and analyses /

Researchers studying environmental questions, such as geologists, ecologists, hydrologists, and meteorologists, frequently face the task of identifying patterns and revealing underlying processes obscured by spatial and temporal variation. Dutilleul's book provides the explanatory background and many statistical procedures necessary for researchers to separate the important information from random variation that always co-occur in field data. The text is written for two audiences. Mathematically dense sections are intended for mathematicians who may find themselves advising field researchers; these sections are interspersed among sections of case histories and idealized constructs that will be more useful for environmental researchers. Both audiences are small. This is not an introductory work; it is highly specialized, demanding extensive relevant experience and careful, thoughtful attention from its reader. Dutilleul (McGill Univ., Canada) is a global leader in the subject of analyzing spatial and temporal variation, and the high quality and currency of the text reflect his status. The only weakness is that the book does not include any statistical routines written in R, which is becoming the universal statistical programming language (code is provided for a few other programming platforms). Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and above. S. R. Fegley University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill