Figure 2

Autocorrelation analysis of the two different simulated populations shown in Figure 1. a: 3D spatial autocorrelograms for the fields shown in figure 1a. The minimal distance spacing rule (left) is revealed as a region surrounding the origin where cell density is reduced, displayed in histogram form to the right, in the DRP. The jittered lattice (right), in comparison, shows a periodic variation in cell density across the correlogram. The color of each point within the correlogram indicates the average density in the shell containing that point, indicated by the scalebar. Its DRP evidences the reduction in density surrounding the origin, but also reveals the waxing and waning in cell density as a function of increasing distance from the origin. The effective radius (r_eff), the radius of the empty region surrounding the origin, is also indicated, by the red line. b: There is no angular variation in density for the minimal distance spacing rule, while these plots of azimuth and elevation for the jittered lattice display such variation evident within the correlogram.