Hierarchical Spatial Data Subdivision into Topologically Contiguous Units

Implementation of the HespDiv framework for hierarchical spatial subdivision of geographical occurrence data. The main function hespdiv() performs iterative spatially constrained subdivision of a study area to identify topologically contiguous clusters in geographic space using user-defined or preset subdivision methods. Additional functions provide tools for analysing subdivision results, visualizing hierarchical spatial structures, and evaluating robustness through sensitivity analyses and statistical testing. Some examples use the optional HDData data package, which is available from GitHub at Liudas-Dau/hespdiv_data. The methodology is described in Daumantas and Spiridonov (2024) .

HespDiv

hespdiv is an R package implementing the HespDiv framework for hierarchical spatial data subdivision. The package provides tools for identifying topologically contiguous spatial clusters and analysing hierarchical regionalization structures in palaeobiogeography and related spatial datasets.

HespDiv represents a suitable framework for identifying hierarchically nested, spatially contiguous regions (geobiomes sensu Spiridonov & Eldredge (2024)) from taxonomic occurrence data.

The theoretical foundations of HespDiv are laid out in my PhD dissertation (link to be added!) and in:

Daumantas, L. & Spiridonov, A. (2024). hespdiv: an R package for spatially constrained, hierarchical and contiguous regionalization in palaeobiogeography. Palaeontology, 67(3), e12702. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12702

Installation

You can install the development version from GitHub:

if (!require("devtools")) install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("Liudas-Dau/hespdiv")

Example and walkthrough

A full demonstration of the workflow is provided in the vignette:

“HespDiv Walkthrough: Case of US Miocene Mammals”

The vignette illustrates how to:

• prepare spatial occurrence data
• perform hierarchical spatial subdivision
• analyse subdivision results
• visualise hierarchical regionalization patterns

Example datasets

The walkthrough uses example datasets distributed in a separate package:

# install devtools is you don't have it!
devtools::install_github("Liudas-Dau/hespdiv_data")

Citation

If you use hespdiv in your research, please cite:

Daumantas, L. & Spiridonov, A. (2024). hespdiv: an R package for spatially constrained, hierarchical and contiguous regionalization in palaeobiogeography. Palaeontology, 67(3), e12702. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12702