[R-sig-Geo] Comparing euclidean distances between point groups in space andtime

[Tobias Erik Reiners]

Dear all,

i have a question concerning comparing the distances between groups of points.
task:
1. I have 4 groups of points. (a) male and (b)female shelter with  
hunting location for each (c)(d).
2. I have three seasons each with the 4 sets of points from 1 having  
12 pointssets in the end.

I already did distance analysis comparing the distances of each group  
in each season. Quite a lot comparisons (a-b;a-c;a-d..c-d). I got a  
nice change in distances between the seasons and strong differences  
for each group.

One Critism on this analysis was that I have a lot of points twice in  
my comparisons and assumptions of tests are violated because points  
occur twice.
They told me to use non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance  
with the adonis() function in the package vegan.

in short
adonis(distancematrix~gender*season)

How can I achieve having all comparison in one flat table and how to  
can I code my gender and season. I got the impression that I violate  
even more statistical assumtions when doing it that way.

Thanks for any help
-- 
Tobias Erik Reiners
Mammalian Ecology Group

Justus-Liebig-University
IFZ - Department of Animal Ecology
Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26
D-35392 Giessen
Germany

Phone:        +49 (0) 641 / 99 - 35761
Fax.:         +49 (0) 641 / 99 - 35709