Application of PCA with georeferenced data in the tourism industry: A case study in the province of Córdoba, Argentina

The spatial analysis of tourism industries provides information about their structure, which is necessary for decision-making. In this work, tourism industries in the departments of Córdoba province, Argentina, for the 2001–2014 period were mapped. Multivariate methods with and without spatial restrictions (spatial principal components (sPCs) analysis, MULTISPATI-PCA, and principal components analysis (PCA), respectively) were applied and their performance was compared. MULTISPATI-PCA yielded a higher degree of spatial structuring of the components that summarize tourism activities than PCA. The methodological innovation lies in the generation of statistics for multidimensional spatial data. The departments were classified according to the participation of tourism activities in the value added of tourism using the sPCs obtained as input of the cluster fuzzy k-means analysis. This information provides elements necessary for appropriately defining local development strategies and, therefore, is useful to improve decision-making.

Genetic diversity and biogeography of the boab Adansonia gregorii (Malvaceae: Bombacoideae)

The Kimberley region of Western Australia is recognised for its high biodiversity and many endemic species, including the charismatic boab tree, Adansonia gregorii F.Muell. (Malvaceae: Bombacoideae). In order to assess the effects of biogeographic barriers on A. gregorii, we examined the genetic diversity and population structure of the tree species across its range in the Kimberley and adjacent areas to the east. Genetic variation at six microsatellite loci in 220 individuals from the entire species range was examined. Five weakly divergent populations, separated by west–east and coast–inland divides, were distinguished using spatial principal components analysis. However, the predominant pattern was low geographic structure and high gene flow. Coalescent analysis detected a population bottleneck and significant gene flow across these inferred biogeographic divides. Climate cycles and coastline changes following the last glacial maximum are implicated in decreases in ancient A. gregorii population size. Of all the potential gene flow vectors, various macropod species and humans are the most likely.