nemeton: Systemic Forest Analysis Using the Nemeton Method

Implement the Nemeton method for systemic forest territory analysis. Calculate multi-family biophysical indicators across 12 ecosystem service families (carbon, water, soil, landscape, biodiversity, etc.), perform temporal analysis, normalize to composite indices, and visualize results. Includes nemetonApp, a Shiny application for interactive parcel selection and analysis. Designed for foresters, ecologists, and land managers.

The nemeton package implements the Nemeton method for comprehensive forest ecosystem analysis. It provides tools to calculate, normalize, and visualize multi-family biophysical indicators across 12 ecosystem service dimensions.

Key Features

Multi-Family Indicator System:

• C - Carbon/Vitality: Biomass stock (C1), NDVI vitality (C2)

• W - Water: Network density (W1), wetlands (W2), TWI (W3)

• F - Soil Fertility: Fertility (F1), erosion risk (F2)

• L - Landscape: Fragmentation (L1), edge ratio (L2)

• B - Biodiversity: Planned for v0.3.0+

• R - Resilience/Risks: Planned for v0.3.0+

• Plus 6 additional families in future versions

Temporal Analysis:

• Multi-period dataset management

• Change rate calculations (absolute and relative)

• Time-series and heatmap visualizations

• Before/after intervention comparison

Normalization & Aggregation:

• 3 normalization methods: minmax, zscore, quantile

• 4 aggregation methods: mean, weighted, geometric, harmonic

• Family-level composite indices

• Reference-based normalization for temporal consistency

Visualization:

• Spatial maps (single and faceted)

• Multi-family radar plots (4-12 axes)

• Temporal trend plots

• Multi-indicator heatmaps

• Comparison and difference maps

Getting Started

See the vignettes for comprehensive guides:

• vignette("getting-started", package = "nemeton") - Introduction to basic workflows with demo data

• vignette("temporal-analysis", package = "nemeton") - Multi-period analysis and change detection

• vignette("indicator-families", package = "nemeton") - Complete reference for the 12-family system

• vignette("internationalization", package = "nemeton") - Bilingual support (French/English)

Quick Example

library(nemeton)

# Load demo data
data(massif_demo_units)
layers <- massif_demo_layers()

# Compute multi-family indicators
results <- nemeton_compute(
  massif_demo_units[1:10, ],
  layers,
  indicators = c("C1", "C2", "W1", "W2", "W3"),
  preprocess = TRUE
)

# Normalize by family
normalized <- normalize_indicators(results, by_family = TRUE)

# Create family indices
family_scores <- create_family_index(normalized)

# Visualize multi-family profile
nemeton_radar(family_scores, unit_id = 1, mode = "family")

Main Functions

Indicator Calculation:

• nemeton_compute - Compute biophysical indicators

• indicator_carbon_biomass - Carbon stock (C1)

• indicator_carbon_ndvi - Vegetation vitality (C2)

• indicator_water_network - Hydrographic density (W1)

• indicator_water_wetlands - Wetland coverage (W2)

• indicator_water_twi - Topographic Wetness Index (W3)

• indicator_soil_fertility - Soil fertility (F1)

• indicator_soil_erosion - Erosion risk (F2)

• indicator_landscape_fragmentation - Fragmentation (L1)

• indicator_landscape_edge - Edge ratio (L2)

Temporal Analysis:

• nemeton_temporal - Multi-period dataset management

• calculate_change_rate - Change rate calculations

• plot_temporal_trend - Time-series plots

• plot_temporal_heatmap - Indicator evolution heatmaps

Normalization & Aggregation:

• normalize_indicators - Scale indicators to 0-100

• create_family_index - Aggregate indicators by family

• create_composite_index - Custom composite indices

• invert_indicator - Invert indicator direction

Visualization:

• plot_indicators_map - Spatial maps

• nemeton_radar - Multi-family radar plots

• plot_comparison_map - Side-by-side comparison

• plot_difference_map - Change maps

Data Management:

• massif_demo_units - Demo forest parcels dataset

• massif_demo_layers - Demo spatial layers

Package Options

Control package behavior with options:

• options(nemeton.language = "fr") - Set French language

• options(nemeton.language = "en") - Set English language

• nemeton_set_language("fr") - Alternative language setting

Author & Methodology

Package Author: Pascal Obstétar (pascal.obstetar@gmail.com)

Methodology: Based on the Nemeton systemic forest analysis method developed by Vivre en Forêt, organizing ecosystem services into 12 families representing key dimensions of forest functioning.

Version History

• v0.2.0 (2026-01-05): Multi-family system, temporal analysis, 5 families implemented (C, W, F, L + infrastructure), 661 tests passing

• v0.1.0 (2026-01-04): Initial release with 5 basic indicators, 225 tests passing

Links

• GitHub: https://github.com/pobsteta/nemeton

• Bug Reports: https://github.com/pobsteta/nemeton/issues

• Development: Branch 001-mvp-v0.2.0

See also

Useful links:

• https://github.com/pobsteta/nemeton

• Report bugs at https://github.com/pobsteta/nemeton/issues

Vignettes:

• vignette("getting-started") - Introduction and basic workflows

• vignette("temporal-analysis") - Multi-period analysis guide

• vignette("indicator-families") - 12-family reference guide

• vignette("internationalization") - Bilingual support

Key Function Families:

• Indicators: nemeton_compute

• Temporal: nemeton_temporal

• Normalization: normalize_indicators

• Aggregation: create_family_index

• Visualization: nemeton_radar

Author

Maintainer: Pascal Obstétar pascal.obstetar@gmail.com