Table 3.

Capability of simplified models to estimate WNV R₀ in Texas. Mean absolute error compares R₀ estimates from a simplified model to the R₀ estimates from a full model for all 2569 of the bird communities in the reduced eBird dataset

Model	Mean absolute error in R0 estimates
Temporally averaged bird communitya	0.07
Spatially averaged bird communityb	0.15
Spatially averaged temperaturec	0.36
Temporally averaged temperatured	0.40
Mean modele	0.63

^aTemporally averaged bird community: each counties’ bird community is replaced with the average bird community in that county across all months

^bSpatially averaged bird community: each counties’ bird community in each month is replaced with the average bird community across all of Texas in that month

^cSpatially averaged temperature: each counties’ temperature in each month is replaced with the average temperature across all of Texas in that month

^dTemporally averaged temperature: each counties’ temperature is replaced with the average temperature in that county across all months

^eMean model: each counties’ bird community and temperature is replaced with the average bird community and temperature across all counties and all months