Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Developing A Geospatial Protocol For Coral Epizootiology, Jennifer Anne Lentz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores how geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial statistics, specifically the techniques used to map, detect, and spatially analyze disease epidemics, could be used to advance our understanding of coral reef health. Given that different types of spatial analysis, as well as different parameter settings within each analysis, can produce noticeably different results, poor selection or improper use of a given technique would likely lead to inaccurate representations of the spatial distribution and false interpretations of the disease. For this reason, I performed a comprehensive review of the following types of exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA): mapping and …