© PSG and PDC, 2005
Last
Update:
February 11, 2008
Chapter 10 - Quantitative and statistical methods - an introduction.
New books and papers | Websites
Chapter Outline :
- For statistical data, to be useful, must be collected in an appropriate manner for the type of test that is going to be used;
- Before setting out to solve a problem, make sure that all the necessary information and techniques are available and that their use and limitations are understood;
- Planning is very important as is the use of an appropriate test;
- Where an hypothesis is to be tested, it is very important to make sure that it is the correct one, and that the methodology to be used is robust;
- The use of a computer program for calculating statistics is often a time saver, provided the data are reliable and the program has been validated;
- Remember the acronym and adage ‘GIGO’ – garbage in, garbage out;
- Do
not rely upon complex programs to massage your data to produce impressive
tables and graphics – if the sampling scheme or data are poor
or deficient, the results will be useless.
| Author(s) | Title (and link) | Comment |
| Magurran | Species abundance distributions over time | Time is often left out as important when constructing sampling procedures etc. It shouldn't be as it influences the data obtained. |
| Triantis et al 2006 | Re-approaching the small island effect | This paper puts forward a simple mathematical model to assess the upper limit of the small island effect. |
| O'Brien, Robert and Tiandry 2005 | Consequences
of violating the recapture duration assumption of mark–recapture
models: a test using simulated and empirical data from an endangered tortoise population |
Describes the work done to identify and eliminate bias in a popular management sampling technique. |
| Munzbergova and Ehrlen 2005 | How best to collect demographic data for population viability analysis models | Outlines how limited sampling time could be best used by adapting an existing technique |
| Gray et al 2005 | The impact of rare species on natural assemblages | Species numbers and rarity might be a function of location, scale and collection method instead of ecological property |
| McCarthy and Parris 2004 | Clarifying the effect of toe clipping on frogs with Bayesian statistics. | Toe clipping reduces accuracy and is unethical. |
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