 |
|
| The QUANTREG Procedure |
| Analysis of Fish-Habitat Relationships |
Quantile regression is used extensively in ecological studies (Cade and Noon 2003). Recently, Dunham, Cade, and Terrell (2002) applied quantile regression to analyze fish-habitat relationships for Lahontan cutthroat trout in 13 streams of the eastern Lahontan basin, which covers most of northern Nevada and parts of southern Oregon. The density of trout (number of trout per meter) was measured by sampling stream sites from 1993 to 1999. The width-to-depth ratio of the stream site was determined as a measure of stream habitat.
The goal of this study was to explore the relationship between the conditional quantiles of trout density and the width-to-depth ratio. The scatter plot of the data in Figure 72.1 indicates a nonlinear relationship, and so it is reasonable to fit regression models for the conditional quantiles of the log of density. Since regression quantiles are equivariant under any monotonic (linear or nonlinear) transformation (Koenker and Hallock 2001), the exponential transformation converts the conditional quantiles to the original density scale.
The data set trout, which follows, includes the average numbers of Lahontan cutthroat trout per meter of stream (Density), the logarithm of Density (LnDensity), and the width-to-depth ratios (WDRatio) for 71 samples.
data trout;
input Density WDRatio LnDensity @@;
datalines;
0.38732 8.6819 -0.94850 1.16956 10.5102 0.15662
0.42025 10.7636 -0.86690 0.50059 12.7884 -0.69197
0.74235 12.9266 -0.29793 0.40385 14.4884 -0.90672
0.35245 15.2476 -1.04284 0.11499 16.6495 -2.16289
0.18290 16.7188 -1.69881 0.06619 16.7859 -2.71523
0.70330 19.0141 -0.35197 0.50845 19.0548 -0.67639
0.06279 19.4959 -2.76796 0.14190 19.9446 -1.95265
0.25725 20.7852 -1.35772 0.27240 21.0870 -1.30048
0.27983 21.4564 -1.27357 0.12860 22.0917 -2.05105
0.57867 22.1627 -0.54702 0.79667 22.4070 -0.22731
0.03730 22.8553 -3.28880 0.27897 23.2003 -1.27666
0.52587 23.6662 -0.64270 0.15075 23.6937 -1.89215
0.10071 23.9129 -2.29548 0.16128 24.6643 -1.82461
0.09254 24.9451 -2.38011 0.23937 24.9492 -1.42974
0.06914 25.4138 -2.67158 0.17586 26.4412 -1.73805
0.43725 26.8025 -0.82725 0.07812 28.0558 -2.54945
0.06576 28.1194 -2.72174 0.26539 28.3045 -1.32654
0.05159 28.3949 -2.96440 0.13779 29.4083 -1.98202
0.55589 30.9569 -0.58719 0.29714 31.3376 -1.21354
0.10857 31.7868 -2.22035 0.03897 31.9464 -3.24485
0.53572 32.2492 -0.62414 0.26580 32.3725 -1.32500
0.22114 33.1017 -1.50896 0.44212 33.3530 -0.81618
0.07646 33.4036 -2.57099 0.47616 33.8079 -0.74200
0.45934 34.5639 -0.77796 0.22627 34.7844 -1.48603
0.19356 35.0004 -1.64215 0.29216 35.1803 -1.23045
0.23243 35.2959 -1.45917 0.08155 35.3704 -2.50654
0.19528 35.9115 -1.63332 0.22023 35.9382 -1.51308
0.16411 36.4884 -1.80723 0.11296 36.7694 -2.18072
0.49981 36.9893 -0.69353 0.40012 37.0055 -0.91599
0.42912 37.7344 -0.84601 0.15294 38.0394 -1.87770
0.31935 38.4524 -1.14147 0.30667 38.9076 -1.18198
0.21722 40.0388 -1.52685 0.44777 42.2364 -0.80347
0.41371 43.6465 -0.88259 0.32136 44.4753 -1.13520
0.35369 44.7545 -1.03935 0.09101 44.9001 -2.39684
0.11982 46.6135 -2.12175 0.16831 47.4509 -1.78197
0.25125 54.6916 -1.38129
;
The following statements use the QUANTREG procedure to fit a simple linear model for the 90th percentile of LnDensity:
proc quantreg data=trout alpha=0.01 ci=resampling;
model LnDensity = WDRatio / quantile=0.9
CovB CorrB
seed=12345;
test WDRatio / wald lr;
run;
The MODEL statement specifies a simple linear regression model with LnDensity as the response variable 
and WDRatio as the covariate 
. The option QUANTILE=0.9 requests that the regression quantile function 
is to be estimated by solving
 |
By default, the regression coefficients 
are estimated with the simplex algorithm, which is explained in the section Simplex Algorithm. The option ALPHA=0.01 requests 99
confidence limits for the regression parameters, and the option CI=RESAMPLING specifies that the intervals are to be computed with the MCMB resampling method of He and Hu (2002). By specifying the CI=RESAMPLING option, the QUANTREG procedure also computes standard errors, 
values, and 
-values of regression parameters with the MCMB resampling method. The SEED= option specifies a seed for the resampling method. The options COVB and CORRB request covariance and correlation matrices for the estimated regression coefficients, and the TEST statement requests tests for the hypothesis that the slope parameter (the coefficient of WDRatio) is zero.
Figure 72.3 displays model information and summary statistics for the variables in the model. The summary statistics include the median and the standardized median absolute deviation (MAD), which are robust measures of univariate location and scale, respectively. See Huber (1981, p. 108) for more details about the standardized MAD.
| Model Information | |
|---|---|
| Data Set | WORK.TROUT |
| Dependent Variable | LnDensity |
| Number of Independent Variables | 1 |
| Number of Observations | 71 |
| Optimization Algorithm | Simplex |
| Method for Confidence Limits | Resampling |
Figure 72.4 displays the parameter estimates, standard errors, 99 confidence limits, values, and -values computed by the resampling method.
The 90th percentile of trout density can be predicted from the width-to-depth ratio as follows:
 |
This is the upper dashed curve plotted in Figure 72.1. The lower dashed curve for the median can be obtained by changing the option QUANTILE=0.9 to QUANTILE=0.5.
The covariance and correlation matrices for the estimated parameters are shown in Figure 72.5. The resampling method used for the confidence intervals is used to compute these matrices.
The tests requested with the TEST statement are shown in Figure 72.6. Both the Wald test and the likelihood ratio test indicate that the coefficient of width-to-depth ratio is significantly different from zero.
In many quantile regression problems it is useful to examine how the estimated regression parameters for each covariate change as a function of the quantile 
in the interval 
. The following statements use the QUANTREG procedure to request the estimated quantile processes 
for the slope and intercept parameters:
ods graphics on;
proc quantreg data=trout alpha=0.1 ci=resampling;
model LnDensity = WDRatio / quantile=process seed=12345
plot=quantplot;
run;
ods graphics off;
The QUANTILE=PROCESS option requests an estimate of the quantile process for each regression parameter. The options ALPHA=0.1 and CI=RESAMPLING specify that 90 confidence bands for the quantile processes are to be computed with the resampling method.
Figure 72.7 displays a portion of the objective function table for the entire quantile process. The objective function is evaluated at 77 values of in the interval . The table also provides predicted values of the conditional quantile function 
at the mean for WDRatio, which can be used to estimate the conditional density function.
| Objective Function for Quantile Process |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Label | Quantile | Objective Function |
Predicted at Mean |
| t0 | 0.005634 | 0.7044 | -3.2582 |
| t1 | 0.020260 | 2.5331 | -3.0331 |
| t2 | 0.031348 | 3.7421 | -2.9376 |
| t3 | 0.046131 | 5.2538 | -2.7013 |
| . | . | . | . |
| . | . | . | . |
| . | . | . | . |
| t73 | 0.945705 | 4.1433 | -0.4361 |
| t74 | 0.966377 | 2.5858 | -0.4287 |
| t75 | 0.976060 | 1.8512 | -0.4082 |
| t76 | 0.994366 | 0.4356 | -0.4082 |
Figure 72.8 displays a portion of the table of the quantile processes for the estimated parameters and confidence limits.
| Parameter Estimates for Quantile Process | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Label | Quantile | Intercept | WDRatio |
| . | . | . | . |
| . | . | . | . |
| . | . | . | . |
| t57 | 0.765705 | -0.42205 | -0.01335 |
| lower90 | 0.765705 | -0.94184 | -0.02696 |
| upper90 | 0.765705 | 0.09773 | 0.00027 |
| t58 | 0.786206 | -0.32688 | -0.01592 |
| lower90 | 0.786206 | -0.83355 | -0.02984 |
| upper90 | 0.786206 | 0.17978 | -0.00200 |
| . | . | . | . |
| . | . | . | . |
| . | . | . | . |
The PLOT=QUANTPLOT option in the MODEL statement, together with the ODS GRAPHICS statement, requests a plot of the estimated quantile processes. The left side of Figure 72.9 displays the process for the intercept, and the right side displays the process for the coefficient of WDRatio.
The process plot for WDRatio shows that the slope parameter changes from positive to negative as the quantile increases, and it changes sign with a sharp drop at the 40th percentile. The 90 confidence bands show that the relationship between LnDensity and WDRatio (expressed by the slope) is not significant below the 78th percentile. This situation can also be seen in Figure 72.8, which shows that 0 falls between the lower and upper confidence limits of the slope parameter for quantiles below 0.78. Since the confidence intervals for the extreme quantiles are not stable due to insufficient data, the confidence band is not displayed outside the interval (0.05, 0.95).
|
|
Copyright © 2009 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.