Research project that compares models of the Maximum Entropy Theory of Ecology (METE) and of the size-structured neutral theory (SSNT), using forest survey data. The project has been developed by Xiao Xiao, James P. O'Dwyer, and Ethan P. White. Our manuscript has been accepted by Ecology. A preprint is available on arXiv (http://arxiv.org/abs/1502.02767).

Code in this repository replicates all analyses in the manuscript. A subset of the data sets included in our study can be obtained from our previous Dryad submission (http://datadryad.org/handle/10255/dryad.71012).

Requirements: Python 2.x, and the following Python modules: numpy, scipy, matplotlib, mpl_tookits, mpmath, multiprocessing, and Cython. In addition, the following custom Python modules are also required: METE (https://github.com/weecology/METE), and macroecotools (https://github.com/weecology/macroecotools). Note that you will have to navigate to /mete_distributions under module METE and run setup.py (from the command line: python setup.py) for Cython to properly compile.

Obtain sample data sets from http://datadryad.org/handle/10255/dryad.71012, and save them under the subdirectory /data/ in the working directory.

Save the two scripts, ssnt_mete_comparison.py and ssnt_mete_comp_analysis.py under the working directory.

All analyses can be replicated by running the following command from the command line:

python ssnt_mete_comp_analysis.py

By default, figures will be saved to the subdirectory /out_figs/. Intermediate output files will be saved to the subdirectory /out_files/.