Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess (2008) 22:207216 DOI 10.

1007/s00477-007-0108-3

ORIGINAL PAPER

Recognizing spatial distribution patterns of grassland insects: neural network approaches

WenJun Zhang XiaoQing Zhong GuangHua Liu

Published online: 27 February 2007 Springer-Verlag 2007

Abstraczt The main objective of this study was to t and recognize spatial distribution patterns of grassland insects using various neural networks, and to analyze the feasibility of neural networks for detecting spatial distribution patterns of grassland insects. BP neural network, Learning vector quantization (LVQ) neural network, linear neural network and Fishers linear discriminant analysis were used to t and recognize spatial distribution patterns at different ecological scales. Various comparisons and analysis were conducted. The results showed that BP, LVQ and linear neural networks were better algorithms for recognizing spatial distribution patterns of grassland insects. BP neural network was the best algorithm to t spatial distribution patterns. BP network may be used to recognize the spatial details of distribution patterns, and the recognition performance of BP network became better as the increase of the number of hidden layers and neurons. Performance of linear neural network for pattern recognition was similar to linear discrimination method. Linear neural network would yield better performance in nding the general trends of distribution patterns. Recognition performance of LVQ network was just between BP network and linear network.

It was found that recognition performance of neural networks depended upon not only the ecological scale but also the criterion for classication. Under the uniform criterion, recognition efciency of linear methods tended to be weak as ecological scale became to be coarser. A joint use of neural networks was suggested in order to achieve both overall and detailed understanding on spatial distribution patterns. Keywords BP neural network Learning vector quantization neural network Linear neural network Linear discriminant analysis Insects Spatial distribution patterns Recognition

1 Introduction Spatial distribution pattern refers to the pattern of distribution of animal or plant individuals in a space particularly in the two-dimensional space. Conventional approaches on spatial distribution patterns described them with some probabilistic distributions or aggregation indices (Krebs 1989). However, the spatial information will be lost if these methods are used. On the other hand, due to the lack of theoretical background it is difcult to preserve the spatial information by a mechanistic model. The questions on spatial distribution patterns are thus data-driven (Schultz and Wieland 1997). Neural networks have been used to mimic non-linear systems and make data-mining, for examples, pattern recognition and function approximation (Hagan et al. 1996; Yan and Zhang 2000; Mathworks 2002). In the ecological and environmental researches, neural networks are well-known tools for function approxi-

W. Zhang (&) X. Zhong School of Life Sciences, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou 510275, Peoples Republic of China e-mail: zhwj@mail.sysu.edu.cn G. Liu Guangdong AIB Polytech College, Guangzhou 510507, Peoples Republic of China

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mation (Almasri and Kaluarachchi 2005; Acharya et al. 2006; Nagendra and Khare 2006; Smith et al. 2006; Zhang and Barrion 2006; Zhang et al. 2007). Pattern recognitions of ecosystems were also successfully conducted by using neural networks. Some examples include clustering and patternizing community data with self-organizing map network (Chon et al. 1996), behavioral classication with the combination of perimeter, area and moments of the binary images as neural network features (Shao et al. 1998), using Bayesian classier to discriminate plants, weeds, and soil in color images (Marchant and Onyango 2003), and hyperspectral AVIRIS image classication using a fuzzy learning vector quantization network (Filippi and Jensen 2006), etc. Currently, the neural network researches on spatial distribution patterns are still absent. In a longer time insects have been considered as the indicators of environment health (Brown 1991; Kremen et al. 1993). Insect diversity has been studied using neural networks. A stream classication based on characteristic invertebrate species assemblages was also satisfactorily conducted using self-organizing map neural network (Cereghino et al. 2001). Various neural networks were used to make pattern classication on samples (Zhang and Qi 2002; Zhang 2007a, b). The BP, radial basis function, and Elman neural networks have been used to make function approximation on sampling data (Zhang and Barrion 2006; Zhang et al. 2007). The present study aimed to t and recognize spatial distribution patterns of grassland insects using various neural networks, and to validate the goodness of neural networks in describing spatial distribution patterns. BP neural network, learning vector quantization (LVQ) neural network, linear neural network and linear discriminant analysis were used to make tting and recognition at different ecological scales. Comparisons between methods and settings were performed.

and outputs y 2 Rm, a mapping g exists and satises the condition: g(x) = y. An algorithm is developed and trained to search a mapping, f 2 F = {f|f: Rn Rm}, that is, it is an optimal approximation onto g. For the purpose of recognition of spatial distribution patterns, f(x) = (y1,y2,...,ym)T, yr = max yj, if and only if x 2 Cr, where f: An Bm, An is a compact set in Rn. The set {C1,C2,...,Cm}is a partition of An, i.e., An = [Cj, and Ci \ Cj = F, if i j. 2.2.1 BP neural network In a BP neural network the transfer functions of neurons in hidden layers are sigmoid functions and the transfer function in the output layer is a linear or sigmoid function (Hagan et al. 1996; Yan and Zhang 2000; Zhang and Barrion 2006). There are two learning procedures. In the rst procedure, the input is transferred layer by layer and the practical outputs of neurons are achieved. In the second procedure, the errors between practical and expected outputs are progressively calculated layer by layer, and all weights are revised according to the errors. 2.2.2 LVQ neural network A LVQ (learning vector quantization) neural network is trained to classify input vectors according to given targets (Kohonen 1990; Yan and Zhang 2000), even if the input vectors are not linearly divisible. It constitutes two layers. The rst layer is the competitive layer and the second is the linear layer. The rst layer uses a competitive transfer function and tries to learn the classications from input vectors. The second layer has linear neurons and transforms the classication information of the rst layer into the classes dened. Through these neurons the weighted inputs and net input are calculated. Neither layer has biases. LVQ network represents clusters of vectors with hidden neurons, and groups the clusters with output neurons to form the desired classes (Mathworks 2002; Feis 2003). 2.2.3 Linear neural network

2 Materials and methods 2.1 Insects investigation Insects were recorded at 64 quadrates on the grassland with 8 8 m2. Each quadrate occupied an area of 1 m2. Recorded insects were sorted and identied to orders. 2.2 Recognition algorithms Theoretically any of the algorithms followed is a mapping from input space into output space: F: Rn Rm, f(X) = Y. Given a sets of inputs x 2 Rn,

Linear neural network is one of the simplest neural networks. In a linear neural network, the transfer function of each neuron is a linear function and the weights and thresholds of the network are revised through WidrowHoff learning algorithm (Mathworks 2002; Zhang 2007a). A linear neural network with a single layer can be trained through WidrowHoff algorithm. The network converges only if the input

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Fig. 1 Spatial distribution of insect individuals on a 8 8 m2 grassland

vectors trained are independent and the learning rate has been appropriately set. Matlab algorithms for BP, LVQ, and linear neural networks developed in present study are as follows: % Load sampling data le (SamplingData.*). In this % le, columns represent quadrates and rows represent

% spatial % coordinates of input vectors (P), but the last row % are classes these quadrates fall into (lastrow) % n is the size of input vector, i.e., the dimension of % input space Rn % m is the number of classes, i.e., the size of output % vector, or the dimension of output space Rm n = size(SamplingData,1) 1; samples = size(SamplingData,2); lastrow = SamplingData(n + 1,:); P = SamplingData(1:n,:); C = ind2vec(lastrow); m = max(lastrow); % Load the le (RecSamples.*) for samples to be % recognized. The same format with sampling data le Q = RecSamples; % Generate a BP neural network (newff) with 30 % hidden neurons and m output neurons net = newff(minmax(P),[30,m],{tansig purelin}, trainlm,learngd,mse); % net = newff(minmax(P),[10,10,10, m],{tansig tansig % tansig purelin},trainlm,learngd,mse); net.trainParam.epochs = 1,000;

Fig. 2 Fitting spatial distribution patterns of grassland insects using neural networks and linear discriminant analysis

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Correctly Total Total tted differences differences/ (%) total observed

net.trainParam.goal = 0.001; net = train(net,P,C); % Produce an element vector of typical class % percentages of samples that fall into each category if % LVQ neural network is used for i = min(lastrow):m; percentages(i) = 0; for j = 1:samples; if lastrow(j) = = i percentages(i) = percentages(i) + 1; end end percentages(i) = percentages(i)/samples; end percentages % Generate a LVQ neural network (newlvq) with % 200 hidden neurons. Learning rate is 0.01. Learning % function is % learnlv1. net = newlvq(minmax(P),200,percentages,0.01, learnlv1); % Train the network. 1,000 epochs is set net.trainParam.epochs = 1,000; net = train(net,P,C); % Generate a linear neural network (newlind) net = newlind(P,C); % Make classication on trained quadrates out = sim(net,P); maxout = max(out); for i = 1:samples; for j = 1:m; if (out(j,i) = = maxout(i)) outputclass(1,i) = i; outputclass(2,i) = j; break; end end end outputclass % Make recognition on the quadrates with unknown % classication recog = sim(net,Q); maxout = max(recog); for i = 1:size(Q,2); for j = 1:m; if (recog(j,i) = = maxout(i)) recognized(1,i) = i; recognized(2,i) = j; break; end end end recognized
0.238 0.118 0.111 0.131 Note: Total observed = sum of classications of all quadrates; total differences = sum of absolute differences between observed and tted classications 100 0 1 89 7 0.071 80 13 0.131 80 13

Linear discrimination tted

30 10 64 88 0.246 0.106 31 9 67 89 0.198 0.118 25 10 75 86 1 1 0 0 100 100

Total diffferences/ total observed

Linear NN tted

Correctly Total tted differences (%)

Correctly Total Total tted differences differences/ (%) total observed

Table 1 Fit goodness of spatial distribution patterns using various methods

LVQ NN tted

Correctly Total Total tted differences differences/ (%) total observed

BP NN tted

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Five classes Four classes Three classes Two classes

100

91

0.097

89

0.111

89

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Fig. 3 Reconstructing spatial distribution patterns of grassland insects using neural networks and linear discriminant analysis

2.2.4 Linear discriminant analysis Fishers linear discriminant analysis was used in this study (SPSS 2001). Linear discrimination ts a multivariate normal density to each class, with a pooled estimate of covariance (Mathworks 2002). 2.3 Denition of classes In present study we concern only with the total population of insects, or a norm of input vector: P z = ||z|| = i = n|zi|, where z is the total number of in1 sects in a quadrate, and n is the number of insect orders in the quadrate (Fig. 1). Four types of classications were designed to represent spatial distribution patterns at different ecological scales: Five classes: I: z 10; II: 11 z 20; III: 21 z 30; VI: 31 z 40; V: z > 40 Four classes: I: z 20; II: 21 z 40; III: 41 z 60; VI: z > 60 Three classes: I: z 30; II: 31 z 60; III: z > 60 Two classes: I: z 10; II: z > 10. Different from the rst three classications, the last one is a median-based partition.

3 Results 3.1 Fitting distribution patterns Four types of classications of total insect population per quadrate were tted using BP, LVQ, linear neural networks, and linear discrimination. BP and LVQ neural networks were designed with the following settings: BP: net = newff(minmax(P),[30,m],{tansig purelin},trainlm,learngd,mse); desired accuracy (MSE) = 0.001, training 1,000 epochs LVQ: net = newlvq(minmax(P),200,percentages,0.01, learnlv1); training 1,000 epochs The results indicated that the BP neural network, with the zero error, completely tted the spatial distribution patterns (Fig. 2; Table 1). BP neural

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212 Total differences/ total observed

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Note: Total observed = sum of classications of all quadrates; total differences = sum of absolute differences between observed and tted classications

Linear NN recognized

networks with more than two hidden layers, each with ten neurons, also tted these patterns with the zero error. It suggested that BP network was the best model to t spatial distribution patterns of grassland insects. Performances of linear network and linear discrimination were similar to each other at four ecological scales (Fig. 2; Table 1). The results showed that in the nest classication (ve classes), there were three different areas on the grassland, which can be found in Fig. 1. Under the uniform classication criterion (from ve to three classes), the abilities of linear methods for recognizing the general trends tended to be weak as the increase of ecological scale (from the ner to the coarser, Fig. 2). Performances of LVQ network were just between BP network and linear methods. In general, BP network could approximate the details of spatial distribution patterns. On the contrary, the general trend could be easily found in the tted or recognized pattern of linear network. 3.2 Reconstructing distribution patterns Each of the 64 quadrates was recognized (i.e., predicted) after tting the remaining 63 quadrates. Combining both training time and recognition performance, BP and LVQ neural networks were created with the following settings: BP: net = newff(minmax(P),[10,10,10,10,10,10,m], {tansig purelin},trainlm,learngd,mse); desired accuracy (MSE) = 0.001, training 1,000 epochs LVQ: net = newlvq(minmax(P),50,percentages,0.01, learnlv1); training 500 epochs The results showed that under the uniform classication criteria, the correctly recognized quadrates for these methods increased but the general trend tended to be weak as the expansion of ecological scale (from the ner to the coarser, Fig. 3; Table 2). BP network tended to yield details but linear methods tended to yield an overall trend. LVQ network was still a mediate method. Recognition performance was proved to be dependent on not only ecological scale but also classication criteria. 3.3 Recognition of quadrate plots Any quadrate plot can also be recognized using neural networks, as indicated in Fig. 4. It can be found that in certain extent the pattern details in the plot may be recognized by BP networks (Fig. 4b), linear methods would yield greater deviations in some kind of plot recognition (Fig. 4a, b). This suggested that in general

Linear discrimination recognized

Total differences

Correctly recognized (%) Total differences/ total observed Total differences Correctly recognized (%) Total differences/ total observed Total differences Correctly recognized (%) Total differences/ total observed Total differences Correctly recognized (%)

Table 2 Recognition performance of spatial distribution patterns using various methods

LVQ NN recognized

BP NN recognized

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Five classes Four classes Three classes Two classes

48 78 83 66

54 15 13 22

0.429 0.176 0.181 0.222

55 77 84 70

45 20 12 19

0.357 0.235 0.167 0.192

58 84 89 77

39 12 8 15

0.309 0.141 0.111 0.152

64 83 89 78

34 13 8 14

0.269 0.153 0.111 0.141

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Fig. 4 Recognition of grassland plots using neural networks and linear discriminant analysis. a A diamond plot. b The main diagonal plot

plot recognition could be better conducted by BP network.

ded to be coarser if the uniform classication criterion has been adopted (Table 3, Fig. 5).

3.4 Inuences of BP network settings In the inuence analysis, the number of hidden layers and neurons in the BP neural network was changed to evaluate recognition performance of BP network. Each quadrate was recognized by learning the other 63 quadrates with BP network. On average, the correctly recognized quadrates increased with the increase of the number of hidden layers and neurons (Table 3). Recognition performance would be improved as the ecological scale ten-

4 Conclusions and discussion It is well known that the spatial distribution patterns of insects could not be exactly recognized and predicted by conventional methods, such as Poisson, binomial, and negative binomial models, etc. This study indicated that BP, LVQ and linear neural networks could be used to recognize spatial distribution patterns of insects. BP neural network was the best algorithm to t spatial distribution patterns of insects. BP network may describe the spatial details of distribution patterns.

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Table 3 Inuence analysis of the number of hidden layers and neurons of BP neural network BP layers and neurons 10,10,10,10, 10,10,10,10,m (8 Hidden layers) 10,10,10,10, 10,10,m (6 Hidden layers) 10,10,10,10,m (4 Hidden layers) 10,10,10,m (3 Hidden layers) 10,10,m (2 Hidden layers) 30,m (1 Hidden layer) Correctly recognized (%) Total differences Total differences/total observed Correctly recognized (%) Total differences Total differences/total observed Correctly recognized (%) Total differences Total differences/total observed Correctly recognized (%) Total differences Total differences/total observed Correctly recognized (%) Total differences Total differences/total observed Correctly recognized (%) Total differences Total differences/total observed Five classes 41 57 0.452 48 54 0.429 38 59 0.468 44 56 0.444 45 54 0.429 28 66 0.524 Four classes 73 27 0.318 78 15 0.176 75 21 0.247 70 24 0.282 70 21 0.247 55 37 0.435 Three classes 83 13 0.181 83 13 0.181 77 18 0.25 75 17 0.236 73 20 0.278 64 24 0.333 Two classes 69 21 0.212 66 22 0.222 63 24 0.242 55 29 0.293 58 27 0.273 61 25 0.253

m number of neurons in output layer, e.g., for ve classes, m = 5

Fig. 5 Inuences of different numbers of hidden layers and neurons on recognition performance of BP neural network

Overall recognition performance of BP network will become better as the increase of the number of hidden layers and neurons.

Performance of linear neural network for both tting and recognition was similar to linear discrimination. Linear neural network performed better in

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nding the general trends of distribution patterns. Performances of LVQ network were just between BP network and linear methods. Recognition performance depended upon the criterion for classication. Under the uniform criterion, efciency of linear algorithms for recognizing the spatial pattern tended to be weaker as ecological scale became to be coarser. According to the BP theorem, with suitable settings of hidden layers and neurons, transfer functions, learning functions, and training functions, etc., BP neural network can approximate any non-linear or linear functions at desired accuracy (Yan and Zhang 2000; Feis 2003; Zhang and Barrion 2006). As a result, BP neural network would t and recognize spatial distribution patterns at any accuracy, as partially validated in this study. It is reasonable to expect that BP neural network will be the most powerful algorithm in detecting spatial distribution patterns. Linear discriminant analysis is suitable for situations where the measurements from each class have a multivariate normal distribution (Mathworks 2002). Sometimes this assumption is not true. In this situation, or the problem is not linearly divisible, linear discrimination will not yield a better recognition. In these cases neural networks may be appropriate. Linear neural network performs better for linearly divisible problems or the non-linear problems featured with a stronger linear property (Feis 2003; Zhang 2007a). Theoretically, it will be a more appropriate algorithm than linear discriminant analysis in the detection of spatial distribution patterns. In fact neural networks have been proved to be better than discriminant analysis in some other researches (Maravelias et al. 2003; Zhang 2007a). LVQ neural network is appropriate for linearly divisible problems and some linearly non-divisible problems (Yan and Zhang 2000; Feis 2003). It is a mediate performed algorithm, as indicated in this study. From linear network, LVQ network, and BP network, the recognition focus on spatial distribution pattern changed from overall trend to details. As a consequence, we suggest a joint use of these neural networks, in order to obtain both overall and detailed understanding on spatial distribution patterns. Although varied or even some plausible results have produced in using neural networks (Moshou et al. 2001; Marchant and Onyango 2003; Olden et al. 2004; Filippi and Jensen 2006), most of the studies showed that neural networks outperfomed conventional models (Lek et al. 1996; Paruelo and Tomasel 1997; Brosse et al. 1999; Abrahart and White 2001; Dawson et al.

2006; Yu et al. 2006). The investigated spatial distribution pattern in this study is relatively simple. However, it indicated that neural networks were more exible than the conventional model. Further researches based on more complicate distribution patterns should be conducted in order to draw more reliable conclusions.
Acknowledgments This research was granted by 973 program of China (2006CB102005), and 948 program of China (2006-G32). We thank all participants of insects investigation, Mr. WG Zhou, HQ Dai, and undergraduates of ecological science, Zhongshan University, China.

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