Inferring multiple causality: The limitations of path analysis

Functional Ecology

Volumn 10, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 421-431

  Petraitis, P S ^a   Dunham, A E ^a   Niewiarowski, P H ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF AKRON   (United States)

Author keywords

Collinearity; multiple regression; relative importance; statistical analysis

Indexed keywords

COLLINEARITY; PATH ANALYSIS; REGRESSION;

EID: 0030304598     PISSN: 02698463     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2389934     Document Type: Review

References (49)

1. Arnold, S.J. (1972) Species densities of predators and their prey. American Naturalist 106, 220-236.
2. Asher, H.B. (1983) Causal Modeling. Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA.
3. Box, G.E.P. (1966) Use and abuse of regression. Technometrics 8, 625-629.
4. Campbell, D.R. & Halama, K.J. (1993) Resource and pollen limitations to lifetime seed production in a natural plant population. Ecology 74, 1043-1051.
5. Crespi, B.J. (1990) Measuring the effect of natural selection on phenotypic interaction systems. American Naturalist 135, 32-47.
6. Crespi, B.J. & Bookstein, F.L. (1989) A path-analytic model for the measurement of selection on morphology. Evolution 43, 18-28.
7. Dillon, W.R. & Goldstein, M. (1984) Multivariate Analysis. Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, USA.
8. English-Loeb, G.M., Karban, R. & Hougen-Eitzman, D. (1993) Direct and indirect competition between spider mites feeding on grapes. Ecological Applications 3, 699-307.
9. Eriksson, O. & Bremer, B. (1993) Genet dynamics of a clonal plant Rubus saxatilis. Journal of Ecology 81, 533-542
10. Farris, M.A. & Lechowicz, M.J. (1990) Functional interactions among traits that determine reproductive success in a native annual plant. Ecology 7, 548-557.
11. Fjeld, E. & Rognerud, S. (1993) Use of path analysis to investigate mercury accumulation in brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Norway and the influence of environmental factors. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 50, 1158-1167.
12. Freund, R.J. & Littell, R.C. (1986) SAS System Linear Regression, 1986 edition. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA.
13. Herbers, J.M. (1990) Reproductive investment and allocation ratios for the ant Leptothorax longispinosus: sorting out the variation. American Naturalist 136, 178-208.
14. Herrera, C.M. (1993) Selection on floral morphology and environmental determinants of fecundity in a hawk moth-pollinated violet. Ecological Monographs 63, 251-275.
15. Hurlbert, S.H. (1984) Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecological Monographs 54, 187-211.
16. James, F.C. & McCulloch, C.E. (1990) Multivariate analysis in ecology and systematics: Panacea or Pandora's box? Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 21, 129-166.
17. Johnson, M.L., Huggins, D.G. & DeNoyelles, F., Jr. (1991) Ecosystem modeling with LISREL: a new approach for measuring direct and indirect effects. Ecological Applications 1, 383-398.
18. Johnson, N.K. (1975) Controls of number of bird species on montane islands in the great basin. Evolution 29, 545-567.
19. Jordan, N. (1992) Path analysis of local adaptation in two ecotypes of the annual plant Dioda teres Walt. (Rubiaceae). American Naturalist 139, 149-165.
20. Jordan, N. (1993) Prospects for weed control through crop interference. Ecological Applications 3, 84-91.
21. Jöreskog, K.G. & Sörborn, D. (1988) LISREL 7. A Guide to the Program and Applications. Scientific Software, Inc., Mooresville, IN, USA.
22. King, R.B. (1993) Determinants of offspring number and size in the brown snake, Storeria dekayi. Journal of Herpetology 27, 175-185.
23. Kingsolver, J.G. & Schemske, D.W. (1991) Path analyses of selection. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 6, 276-280.
24. Lynch, M. (1988) Path analysis of ontogenetic data. Size-structured Populations - Ecology and Evolution (eds B. Ebenman & L. Persson), pp. 29-46. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
25. Lynch, M. & Arnold, S.J. (1988) The measurement of selection on size and growth. Size-structured Populations - Ecology and Evolution (eds B. Ebenman and L. Persson), pp. 47-59. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
26. Maddox, G.D. & Antonovics, J. (1983) Experimental ecological genetics in Plantago: a structural equation approach to fitness components in P. aristata and P patagonica. Ecology 64, 1092-1099.
27. Mason, C.H. & Perreault, W.D. Jr., (1991) Collinearity, power, and interpretation of multiple regression analysis. Journal of Marketing Research 28, 268-280.
28. Mitchell, R.J. (1992) Testing evolutionary and ecological hypotheses using path analysis and structural equation modeling. Functional Ecology 6, 123-129.
29. Mitchell, R.J. (1993) Path analysis: pollination. Design and Analysis of Ecological Experiments (eds S.M. Scheiner and J. Gurevitch), pp. 211-231. Chapman and Hall, New York.
30. Mitchell-Olds, T. (1987) Analysis of local variation in plant size. Ecology 68, 82-87.
31. Mitchell-Olds, T. & Shaw, R. (1987) Regression analysis of natural selection: statistical inference and biological interpretation. Evolution 41, 1149-1161.
32. Mood, A.M. & Graybill, F.A. (1963) Introduction to the Theory of Statistics, 2nd edition. McGraw-Hill, New York.
33. Myers, R.H. (1990) Classical and Modern Regression with Applications, 2nd edition. PWS Kent, Boston, MA.
34. Petraitis, P.S. (1996) How can we compare the importance of ecological processes if we never ask, 'Compared to what?' Issues and Perspectives in Experimental Ecology (eds W. Resitarits and J. Bernardo). Oxford University Press, in press.
35. Philippi, T.E. (1993) Multiple regression: herbivory. Design and Analysis of Ecological Experiments (eds S.M. Scheiner and J. Gurevitch), pp. 183-210. Chapman and Hall, New York.
36. Power, D.M. (1972) Numbers of bird species on the California islands. Evolution 26, 451-463.
37. Quinn, J.F. & Dunham, A.E. (1983). On hypothesis testing in ecology and evolution. American Naturalist 122, 602-617.
38. Roach, D.A. (1986) Timing of seed production and dispersal in Geranium carolinianum: effects on fitness. Ecology 67, 572-576.
39. SAS Institute, Inc. (1990) SAS User's Guide: Statistics. SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC.
40. Schemske, D.W. & Horvitz, C.C. (1988) Plant-animal interactions and fruit production in a neotropical herb: a path analysis. Ecology 69, 1128-1137.
41. Sinervo, B. (1990) The evolution of maternal investment in lizards: an experimental and comparative analysis of egg size and its effects on offspring performance. Evolution 44, 279-294.
42. Sokal, R.R. & Rohlf, F.J. (1981) Biometry, 2nd edition. Freeman, San Francisco, CA.
43. Stanton, M., Young, H.J., Ellstrand, N.C. & Clegg, J.M. (1991) Consequences of floral variation for male and female reproduction in experimental populations of wild radish, Raphanus sativus L. Evolution 45, 268-280.
44. Walker, M.D., Webber, P.J., Arnold, E.H. & Ebert-May, D. (1994) Effects of interannual climate variation on aboveground phytomass in alpine vegetation. Ecology 75, 393-408.
45. Wesser, S.D. & Armbruster, W.S. (1991) Species distribution controls across a forest-steppe transition: a causal model and experimental test. Ecological Monographs 61, 323-342.
46. Winn, A.A. & Werner, P.A. (1987) Regulation of seed yield within and among populations of Prunella vulgaris. Ecology 68, 1224-1233.
47. Wootton, J.T. (1994) Predicting direct and indirect effects: an integrated approach using experiments and path analysis. Ecology 75, 151-165.
48. Wright, S. (1920) The relative importance of heredity and environment in determining the piebald pattern of guinea pigs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA 6, 320-332.
49. Wright, S. (1934) The method of path coefficients. Annals of Mathematics and Statistics 5, 161-215.