Species Similarity and Clustering

Once species have been fitted and classified, the resulting parameter sets and observed seasonal characteristics can be converted into a common ecological feature space that allows species from different model families to be compared using a shared representation of seasonal ecological structure.

The workflow is illustrated, below:

The classifications for individual species are collated to create a feature matrix that is analysed to produce a similarity matrix, comparing species using weighted ecological similarity metrics.

The aim is not to identify taxonomic similarity, but similarity of seasonal ecological signal:

• Shared timing structure
• Similar persistence behaviour
• Overlapping flowering or migration periods
• Comparable detectability dynamics
• Broad phenological synchrony

This allows relationships to emerge not only within groups, but also across the ecosystem as a whole. Butterfly flight periods, flowering seasons, migratory arrival windows, and resident detectability patterns may all align within the same seasonal structure.

In this sense, the system becomes less a species comparison tool and more an exploration of the seasonal organisation of ecological activity.