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This readme file was generated on 2025-09-27 by Allegra Love

Motivation

Conducts analyses to answer three common evolutionary ecology questions with original quantitative trait data, and prdinal ranked data. The aim is to highlight the differences between the two data types to inspire future work.

Abstract

Data can be collected and analyzed on either continuous or categorical scales, depending on the experimental design and the research question. When investigating relationships between organismal traits and ecological attributes, quantitative trait values are almost always used, with a few key exceptions (e.g., dominance rank). However, it is not always clear that the quantitative trait value is more meaningful than the relative value or rank. Here, we explore how alternate scaling can affect analyses and inferences when evaluating common biological questions regarding sources of variation, survival, and consistency through time. To do this, we conducted three parallel analyses using quantitative and ranked data from a capture-mark-recapture study with Trinidadian guppies, Poecilia reticulata. In most analyses interpretations were similar, but quantitative scales showed clearer relationships with survival. Notably, ordinal scales provided more nuanced interpretation when considering change through time. Our analysis revealed that, for certain biological questions, transformation into ordinal scales can be informative. This work is a starting point for further exploration of the benefits of ranked analyses. We suggest further investigation into the impact of ordinal rank on fitness for both specific phenotypic traits and whole-organism fitness.

General information

  1. Title of dataset: "Applications of rank analyses for answering ecological and evolutionary questions in natural systems".

  2. Dataset DOI:

  3. Long-term contact Name: Allegra Love ORCID: 0000-0002-4637-6850 Institution: University of Guelph, McGill University, Groupe de recherche interuniversite limnologie Email: allegra.e.love@gmail.com

  4. Author Name: Allegra Love ORCID: 0000-0002-4637-6850 Institution: University of Guelph, McGill University

Name: Janay Fox ORCID: 0000-0002-7895-2357 Institution: McGill University

Name: Andrew Hendry ORCID: 0000-0002-4807-6667 Institution: McGill University, Groupe de recherche interuniversite limnologie (GRIL)

Name: Gregor Fussmann ORCID: 0000-0001-9576-0122 Institution: McGill University, Groupe de recherche interuniversite limnologie

  1. Description of the dataset: contains trait data from a capture mark recapture experiment conducted in Trinidad on guppies.

  2. Date of data collection: Spring 2019

  3. Geographic location of the data collection: Trinidad, for site details see figure S1 in accompanying publications.

  4. Funding information: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Groupe de recherche interuniversite limnologie (GRIL)

Sharing/access information

  1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the dataset: CC-BY 4.0

  2. Links to publications that cite or use the dataset: TBD

  3. Links/relationships to related datasets: data will be hosted in DRYAD.

  4. Data sources: NA

  5. Dataset citation: NA

Folder and file overview

  1. File List:

[code/question_1.rmd]: code to generate figure 1, analysis was completed in SPSS and output was saved and is used here.

[Folder/question_2.rmd]: code to complete survival analysis associated with question 2 in manuscript. Generates Fig S2 and Table 1.

[code/question_3.rmd]: code to complete consistency analysis and major axis regression. Generates Figure 2 and 3.

[code/helper_functions.r]: Functions used in other code files

  1. Relationship between files, if important: