Analysis of conditional contingency using ACTUS2 with examples from studies of animal behavior

• Published in: Acta ethologica
• Main Authors: Almada, F., Robalo, J., Estabrook, George F., Almada, V.
• Other Authors: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048, USA, Unidade de Investigação em Eco-Etologia, Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Rua Jardim do Tabaco 44, 1100 Lisbon, Portugal, Ann Arbor
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer-Verlag; Springer-Verlag and ISPA 2002
• Subjects: Legacy; Contingency Tables Transition Analyses Diplodus Sargus Triturus Marmoratus Pygmaeus Simulation Statistics; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Science; White Sea
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/42352; https://doi.org/10.1007/s102110100050

In this paper we present ACTUS2, the second version of ACTUS (Analysis of Contingency Tables Using Simulation). ACTUS2 has many new features, including analysis of data in which dependencies that make some combinations of properties impossible are hypothesized. Because ACTUS2 explicitly simulates such hypotheses, it can be used without loss of accuracy to analyze small amounts of data in large tables with many zeros or very low frequencies. We illustrate these features with two studies of animal behavior: interactions of male individuals with other individuals in groups of captive, mature Triturus marmoratus pygmaeus (newts); and agonistic interactions between pairs of male juvenile Diplodus sargus (the sparid fish, white sea-bream). Both significantly frequent, and significantly infrequent, co-occurrences that had biologically meaningful interpretations were revealed. Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42352/1/10211-4-2-73_s102110100050.pdf