Advanced Functionality and Writing Extensions

Here we go through how the presented workflows can be generalized and expanded upon.

Different forward models

In the examples, we used age-depth models from a carbonate platform simulated with CarboCAT lite (Burgess 2013, Burgess 2023). This can easily be expanded to any other sedimentary forward model (be it marine or terrestrial, siliciclastic, mixed, or carbonate system).

For this, age-depth information needs to be extracted from the forward model. The vectors of elapsed model time vs. accumulated height can then be handed over to tp_to_adm to define age-depth model objects. These can then be used in the pipelines as in the examples.

If the forward model included erosion, you need to first account for time intervals where sediment is first deposited and later removed. For this, first define a sediment accumulation curve using admtools::tp_to_sac, and pass it to admtools::sac_to_adm to turn it into an age-depth model. You can then use the resulting age-depth model for your analysis pipeline.

Empirical age-depth models

Of course you can use empirical age-depth models in your pipeline. You can create them from tie points using tp_to_adm just as in the case with forward models.

The workflow in StratPal does not work with multiadm objects as defined by admtools. These objects store multiple age-depth models to account for uncertainty. You can however reduce their complexity, e.g. via admtools::median_adm, and use the resulting age-depth model.

Other ecological gradients and niche definitions

In the examples we used water depth as ecological gradient. The approach for niche modeling used in StratPal works for all types of niches and gradient. Potentially relevant gradients that can be extracted from forward models are for example substrate consistency, temperature, or water energy.

We used a simple niche definition based on a probability density function of a normal distribution implemented in snd_niche. This can be expanded to arbitrary niche definitions along a gradient. For integration with apply_niche, niche definitions must meet the following criteria:

  1. They are functions that take gradient values as input and return numbers between 0 and 1 as outputs.
  2. They are vectorized, meaning when handed a vector, they return a vector of equal length.

Similar criteria hold for the definitions of gradient change gc:

  1. gc must be a function that takes time (or position) as input, and returns gradient values as outputs.
  2. The function must be vectorized, meaning when handed a vector, it must return a vector of equal length.

As long as these conditions for gc and niche_def are met, arbitrary niche preferences along any gradient can be modeled using apply_niche. For examples on how this works for discrete categories of niches, see the functions discrete_niche (and examples therein) and discrete_gradient for the needed helper functions.

Different models of phenotypic evolution

Other types of phenotypic evolution in the time domain can easily be incorporated. For seamless integration, they need to meet the following criteria:

The last two points make sure plotting via admtools::plot.timelist and admtools::plot.stratlist works seamlessly.

Different models of event type data

We used (constant and variable rate) Poisson point processes to simulate event type data. Any model of event-type data can be used (e.g., one with temporal correlation), as long as it returns a vector with the timing/position of the events.

Transforming data from the stratigraphic domain to the time domain

Much of the explanations here focus on forward modeling, i.e., modeling the time domain and examining how it is expressed in the stratigraphic domain. The reverse direction (from the stratigraphic domain to the time domain) can be modeled using strat_to_time.

Taphonomy

Taphonomic effects can be incorporated using using the apply_taphonomy function. This is based on the same principle as niche modeling, and makes use of the thin function, but was not shown in the examples. For pres_potential (resp. ctc), the same logical constraints apply as to niche_def (resp. gc). This works for event-type data and pre_paleoTS objects (see vignette("paleoTS_functionality") for details). For examples with discrete taphonomic categories see discrete_niche (both source code and examples) as a template.

Transform different types of data

strat_to_time and time_to_strat are generic functions of the admtools package that can transform different types of data. Currently they transform paleontological time series of individual specimens (pre_paleoTS objects), phylogenetic trees (phylo objects), lists (list class), and numeric data such as the event type data (class numeric).

In general, any type of temporal (resp. stratigraphic) data can be transformed. For this, you need define a S3 class for the object you would like to transform (if it does not already have a S3 class), and then implement the transformation of this class for time_to_strat and strat_to_time.

If you would like to add transformations for new S3 classes to the admtools package, please see the contribution guidelines (CONTRIBUTING.md file) of the admtools package for details on how to contribute code.

References