untb (version 1.7-2)

census: Construct, coerce, and test for a census object

Description

In package untb, ecosystem data is held in one of two preferred forms: census data and count data. Function as.census() coerces to census format.

Usage

census(a)
as.census(a)
is.census(a)

Arguments

a

Ecosystem data. In function as.census(), if a table, interpret as species count data; otherwise, interpret as census data

Value

Returns an object of class “census”.

Details

A “census” object is a list of individuals in the form of an unnamed vector whose elements indicate the individuals' species; compare “count” objects. An object of class “census” is also an unordered factor. The levels are always in alphabetical order. Function census() takes an object of class “count” and returns an object of class “census”. This function is not really intended for the end user.

Function as.census() coerces to class “count” then returns census() of the result.

See Also

count

Examples

jj <- c(dogs=4,pigs=10,slugs=0,fish=1)

x <- census(jj)   # slugs appear as zero abundance
extant(x)  # slugs gone

x+x   # count method for census objects: order of elements lost


as.census(jj)  # probably NOT what you meant

a <- c(rep("oak",5) ,rep("ash",2),rep("elm",3),rep("xx",4))
# note that "a" is a plain vector here.
as.census(a)