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Generate nested ellipses based on a reference ellipse

Source: R/virtual_comunities.R
nested_ellipses.Rd

Creates a sequence of nested ellipses by scaling the covariance matrix of a reference ellipse. The distribution of the nested ellipses can be controlled using a bias exponent to cluster them toward the border or the centroid.

Usage

nested_ellipses(object, n = 10, smallest_proportion = 0.1, bias = 1)

Arguments

object

An object of class "nicheR_ellipsoid" describing an initial ellipse. Must contain centroid, cov_matrix, and cl.

n

Integer. Number of nested ellipses to generate. Default is 10.

smallest_proportion

Numeric scalar in (0, 1). The scale of the smallest ellipse relative to the original. Default is 0.1.

bias

Numeric. An exponent controlling the spacing of the nested ellipses.

  • bias = 1: Linear spacing (default).

  • 0 < bias < 1: Clusters ellipses toward the border (outer original ellipse).

  • bias > 1: Clusters ellipses toward the centroid (inner smallest ellipse).

Value

An object of class nicheR_community containing the generated ellipses, the reference object, and generation metadata.

Details

The largest ellipse corresponds to the original reference, and the smallest is that scaled by smallest_proportion.

The function generates a sequence of scale factors \(k\) using the formula: \(k_i = \text{smallest\_proportion} + (1 - \text{smallest\_proportion}) \times t_i^{\text{bias}}\), where \(t_i\) is a linear sequence from 1 down to 0.