2 replies to this topic

[AaronP]

The attached graphic depicts the magnitude per unit area  of seedlings in forest openings.  The intended target for this graphic is a peer review journal such as Ecological Modelling where I intend to add the map as a figure to support my research.  I would appreciate any advice on how to make the figure more presentable for a scientific audience.  I should note that I plan to add specific details about the graphic (e.g. sample size per gap) as figure text.  Thank you in advance for your comments.

 

 RedWhitePine2.jpg   117.06K   122 downloads

[frax]

What are the main messages that you want to communicate with this graphic - that should always be the starting point. Without any context, it is hard to give you tips. I assume that the directions in the polar diagrams are compass directions, right?

[AndrewM]

I think the figure itself looks pretty clear. A couple of comments on the legend though; your category boundaries seem quite arbitrary and also 3 decimal places seems like quite a lot of precision given the number ranges you're using. Could you adjust your classifications to more rounded numbers e.g. 0.00-0.06, 0.06-0.12 etc or even better 0.05-0.10 etc? The values you're using may be significant in your work, but otherwise I think it would make it easier for your readers to take in at a glance.

 

Failing that I would at least change your first two ranges in the top diagram to 0-0.062 and 0.063-0.125 to give them the same number of dps as the other categories. Also, this is just a personal preference, but I think m² looks nicer than m^2 in the legend text.

 

Other than that it all looks pretty clear and well laid out to me. Hope that helps!