Robust Ecological and Fisheries Data Analysis and Visualization

A comprehensive statistical and visualization toolkit tailored for observational data in fisheries science and aquatic ecology. Provides streamlined workflows for univariate and factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA), analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA), similarity percentages (SIMPER), generalized linear models, non-linear morphometric regressions, two-group hypothesis testing, and chi-square tests. Features multivariate ordination methods including non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), principal component analysis (PCA), redundancy analysis (RDA), distance-based redundancy analysis (db-RDA), and hierarchical cluster dendrograms. Computes alpha diversity metrics, species accumulation curves, water quality index (WQI) values, heavy metal ecotoxicological contamination indices, correlation heatmaps, and Mantel test network linkages. Offers specialized environmental visualizations including Sankey diagrams, Likert plots, circular bar charts, and longitudinal time-series with uncertainty ribbons. Methodological formulations for multivariate permutation tests follow Anderson (2001) . Ecological community dissimilarity transformations follow Legendre and Gallagher (2001) , and ecotoxicological contamination index models follow Tomlinson et al. (1980) .

aquats: Robust Ecological and Fisheries Data Analysis and Visualization

aquats provides a streamlined, publication-grade analytical and visualization framework tailored for aquatic ecology, fisheries science, and environmental monitoring workflows.

Key Modules & Capabilities

• Parametric & Non-Linear Regressions: Linear, allometric power ($y = a \cdot x^b$), exponential, logarithmic, polynomial, and cubic curves with auto-generated algebraic labels, $R^2$, and $p$-values.
• Univariate & Multivariate Statistics: Streamlined wrappers for one-way/factorial ANOVA, ANCOVA, MANOVA, and Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) for count and continuous data.
• Multivariate Ordination & Community Ecology: Publication-ready NMDS, PCA, RDA, distance-based RDA (db-RDA), hierarchical cluster dendrograms, and integrated Mantel test network heatmaps.
• Ecological Diversity & Accumulation: Alpha diversity profiling (Shannon, Simpson, Chao1, Pielou evenness) and species accumulation curves.
• Environmental & Ecotoxicological Assessment: Weighted Arithmetic Water Quality Index (WAWQI) and comprehensive heavy metal contamination metrics (CF, CD, PLI, HPI, HEI).
• Longitudinal Time-Series Tracking: Multi-station temporal trends with LOESS/linear fits and 95% confidence ribbons.

Installation

You can install the released version of aquats from GitHub using remotes:

# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("Ataher76/aquats")

Quick Start

1. Non-Linear Allometric Regression

library(aquats)

# Fit an allometric power curve with 95% confidence intervals
res <- regression_analysis(
  data = hilsa_master,
  x_var = "TL_cm",
  y_var = "BW_g",
  fit_type = "power",
  interval = "confidence",
  point_size = 2.5
)

# Display publication-ready plot
print(res$Plot)

2. Community Alpha Diversity Profiling

library(aquats)

# Calculate alpha diversity indices using bundled community data
div_res <- calc_diversity(
  data = community_master
)

head(div_res)

Citation

If you use aquats in your research or publications, please cite it as:

Ali, A., & Alam, M. S. (2026). aquats: Robust Ecological and Fisheries Data Analysis and Visualization (v1.2.1). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22885025

You can also generate the BibTeX entry directly in R:

citation("aquats")

@Manual{,
  title  = {aquats: Robust Ecological and Fisheries Data Analysis and Visualization},
  author = {Ataher Ali and Mohammed Shahidul Alam},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {R package version 1.2.1},
  doi    = {10.5281/zenodo.22885025},
  url    = {[https://github.com/Ataher76/aquats](https://github.com/Ataher76/aquats)}
}

Authors & Maintainer

• Ataher Ali – Author & Maintainer

  • ORCID: 0009-0008-8780-0903
  • Email: [email protected]

• Mohammed Shahidul Alam – Author & Supervisor

  • ORCID: 0000-0003-2740-5908
  • Email: [email protected]

License

This package is licensed under the MIT License.