Lyell Collection
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Reyment, R. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2006; v. 264; p. 59-66;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.2006.264.01.05
© 2006 Geological Society of London

Applications to the Solution of Real Geological Problems

On stability of compositional canonical variate vector components

R. A. Reyment

Palaeozoology Section, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, S10405, Stockholm, Sweden richard.reyment{at}nrm.se

Canonical variate analysis (aka discriminant coordinates) is viewed from the aspect of Aitchisonian compositional data analysis and the concept of stability in canonical vectors examined in relation to their refication (i.e. providing canonical vector components with a practical interpretation). The log-ratio transformation was found to have computational and interpretational advantages over the centred log-ratio transformation. The ad hoc application of N. A. Campbell’s application of the method of shrinkage estimators to multiple discrimination, and the optimal retention of discrimination power, is exemplified by two cases, one drawn from quantitative sedimentology, the other from biomolecular palaeontology, with the intention of probing the effect of instability on interpreting the relative importance of standardized canonical variate coefficients in relation to the suppression of near-redundant directions of within-groups variation. Pronounced instability in canonical vectors may endanger the validity of an analysis.