In: Palomares, MLD, Stergiou, KI, and Pauly, D (eds.), Fishes in databases and ecosystems. Proceedings of the 2006 FishBase Symposium. Fisheries Centre Research Reports, 2006, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 12-17.
ISSN/ISBN: 1198-6727 DOI: Not available at this time.
Abstract: FishBase, an information system on all finfishes of the world, records observed maximum lengths needed for growth studies and ecosystem modelling, among others. A plot of the number of species and subspecies against the maximum length by each centimetre from 1 cm to 20 m showed a bias related to Albers’ theory on prominence in the decimal system which defines the most prominent numbers as ‘spontaneous numbers’. The explanation lies in the origin of the data (mainly synthetic documents like FAO catalogues, regional faunas and check-lists), where maximum lengths are often rounded to the highest ten or hundred. Further analyses are suggested to check the impact of this bias in global trend analysis as well as possible methods to overcome this impact.
Bibtex:
@inProceedings {,
AUTHOR = {Nicolas Bailly},
TITLE = {Prominence trend in maximum lengths recorded for fishes: a preliminary analysis},
BOOKTITLE = {Fisheries Centre Research Reports },
YEAR = {2006},
ISBN = {1198-6727},
EDITOR = {Maria {L.D. Palomares}, {Konstantinos I. Stergiou} and Daniel Pauly},
VOLUME = {14},
NUMBER = {4},
SERIES = {Fishes in databases and ecosystems. Proceedings of the 2006 FishBase Symposium},
PAGES = {12--17},
URL = {https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/facultyresearchandpublications/52383/items/1.0074760},
}
Reference Type: Conference Paper
Subject Area(s): Applied Mathematics, Environmental Sciences, Statistics