Construct, coerce, and test for a census object

In package untb, ecosystem data is held in one of two preferred forms: census data and count data. Function as.census() coerces to census format.

Usage

census(a)
as.census(a)
is.census(a)

Arguments

a

Ecosystem data. In function as.census(), if a table, interpret as species count data; otherwise, interpret as census data

Details

A “census” object is a list of individuals in the form of an unnamed vector whose elements indicate the individuals' species; compare “count” objects.

An object of class “census” is also an unordered factor. The levels are always in alphabetical order.

Function census() takes an object of class “count” and returns an object of class “census”. This function is not really intended for the end user.

Function as.census() coerces to class “count” then returns census() of the result.

Value

Returns an object of class “census”.

Author

Robin K. S. Hankin

See also

count

Examples

jj <- c(dogs=4,pigs=10,slugs=0,fish=1)

x <- census(jj)   # slugs appear as zero abundance
extant(x)  # slugs gone
#> pigs dogs fish 
#>   10    4    1 

x+x   # count method for census objects: order of elements lost
#>  [1] pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs
#> [16] pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs dogs dogs dogs dogs dogs dogs dogs dogs fish fish
#> Levels: pigs dogs fish slugs


as.census(jj)  # probably NOT what you meant
#> [1] 0  1  4  10
#> Levels: 0 1 4 10

a <- c(rep("oak",5) ,rep("ash",2),rep("elm",3),rep("xx",4))
# note that "a" is a plain vector here.
as.census(a)
#>  [1] oak oak oak oak oak xx  xx  xx  xx  elm elm elm ash ash
#> Levels: oak xx elm ash