Applications for Advancing Animal Ecology

Applications for Advancing Animal Ecology

Author: Michael L. Morrison

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2021-05-11

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1421440725

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Practical guidance for wildlife professionals working to improve study design, data analysis, and the application of results to habitat and population management. Winner of the Wildlife Society Publications Book Award by The Wildlife Society Despite major advances in sampling techniques and analytical methods, many animal ecologists conduct research that is primarily relevant to a specific time and place. They also tend to focus more on the statistical analyses and nuances of modeling than actual study design. Arguing that studies of animal ecology should always begin with a focus on the behaviors and characteristics of individual organisms, including how they form into distinct biological populations, Applications for Advancing Animal Ecology takes a fresh and critical look at the field. Building from its companion volume, Foundations for Advancing Animal Ecology, this practical book presents readers with the principal methods used to observe animal behavior. Teaching them to assess resource abundance categories of species-environmental relationships models, it also explores • major aspects of measuring animal habitat: what to measure and how to measure it; • common sampling and estimation methods to assess population parameters; • when to measure and how to analyze data; • problems that will confront ecologists in the coming years—and how to gather information to adequately address them; and • how the experimental approach can be used to advance the science of animal ecology. Throughout the book, the authors stress the importance of speaking a common and well-defined language. Avoiding vague and misleading terminology, they assert, will help ecologists translate science into meaningful and lasting actions in the environment. Taking the perspective of the organism of interest in developing concepts and applications, the authors always keep the potentially biased human perspective in focus. They also provide a selection of suggested research projects, cautions, and caveats. A major advancement in understanding the factors underlying wildlife–habitat relationships, Applications for Advancing Animal Ecology will be an invaluable resource to natural resource management professionals and practitioners, including state and federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, and environmental consultants.


Survival Analysis

Survival Analysis

Author: John P. Klein

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-06-29

Total Pages: 508

ISBN-13: 1475727283

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Making complex methods more accessible to applied researchers without an advanced mathematical background, the authors present the essence of new techniques available, as well as classical techniques, and apply them to data. Practical suggestions for implementing the various methods are set off in a series of practical notes at the end of each section, while technical details of the derivation of the techniques are sketched in the technical notes. This book will thus be useful for investigators who need to analyse censored or truncated life time data, and as a textbook for a graduate course in survival analysis, the only prerequisite being a standard course in statistical methodology.


Research Techniques in Animal Ecology

Research Techniques in Animal Ecology

Author: Luigi Boitani

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2000-06-01

Total Pages: 668

ISBN-13: 0231501390

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The present biodiversity crisis is rife with opportunities to make important conservation decisions; however, the misuse or misapplication of the methods and techniques of animal ecology can have serious consequences for the survival of species. Still, there have been relatively few critical reviews of methodology in the field. This book provides an analysis of some of the most frequently used research techniques in animal ecology, identifying their limitations and misuses, as well as possible solutions to avoid such pitfalls. In the process, contributors to this volume present new perspectives on the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. Research Techniques in Animal Ecology is an overarching account of central theoretical and methodological controversies in the field, rather than a handbook on the minutiae of techniques. The editors have forged comprehensive presentations of key topics in animal ecology, such as territory and home range estimates, habitation evaluation, population viability analysis, GIS mapping, and measuring the dynamics of societies. Striking a careful balance, each chapter begins by assessing the shortcomings and misapplications of the techniques in question, followed by a thorough review of the current literature, and concluding with possible solutions and suggested guidelines for more robust investigations.


Applied Survival Analysis Using R

Applied Survival Analysis Using R

Author: Dirk F. Moore

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-05-11

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 3319312456

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Applied Survival Analysis Using R covers the main principles of survival analysis, gives examples of how it is applied, and teaches how to put those principles to use to analyze data using R as a vehicle. Survival data, where the primary outcome is time to a specific event, arise in many areas of biomedical research, including clinical trials, epidemiological studies, and studies of animals. Many survival methods are extensions of techniques used in linear regression and categorical data, while other aspects of this field are unique to survival data. This text employs numerous actual examples to illustrate survival curve estimation, comparison of survivals of different groups, proper accounting for censoring and truncation, model variable selection, and residual analysis. Because explaining survival analysis requires more advanced mathematics than many other statistical topics, this book is organized with basic concepts and most frequently used procedures covered in earlier chapters, with more advanced topics near the end and in the appendices. A background in basic linear regression and categorical data analysis, as well as a basic knowledge of calculus and the R system, will help the reader to fully appreciate the information presented. Examples are simple and straightforward while still illustrating key points, shedding light on the application of survival analysis in a way that is useful for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners in biostatistics.


Statistical Methods for Survival Data Analysis

Statistical Methods for Survival Data Analysis

Author: Elisa T. Lee

Publisher: Wiley-Interscience

Published: 1992-05-07

Total Pages: 504

ISBN-13:

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Functions of survival time; Examples of survival data analysis; Nonparametric methods of estimating survival functions; Nonparametric methods for comparing survival distributions; Some well-known survival distributions and their applications; Graphical methods for sulvival distribution fitting and goodness-of-fit tests; Analytical estimation procedures for sulvival distributions; Parametric methods for comparing two survival distribution; Identification of prognostic factors related to survival time; Identification of risk factors related to dichotomous data; Planning and design of clinical trials (I); Planning and design of clinicL trials(II).


Animal Social Networks

Animal Social Networks

Author: Dr. Jens Krause

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 0199679045

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The scientific study of networks - computer, social, and biological - has received an enormous amount of interest in recent years. However, the network approach has been applied to the field of animal behaviour relatively late compared to many other biological disciplines. Understanding social network structure is of great importance for biologists since the structural characteristics of any network will affect its constituent members and influence a range of diverse behaviours. These include finding and choosing a sexual partner, developing and maintaining cooperative relationships, and engaging in foraging and anti-predator behavior. This novel text provides an overview of the insights that network analysis has provided into major biological processes, and how it has enhanced our understanding of the social organisation of several important taxonomic groups. It brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines with the aim of providing both an overview of the power of the network approach for understanding patterns and process in animal populations, as well as outlining how current methodological constraints and challenges can be overcome. Animal Social Networks is principally aimed at graduate level students and researchers in the fields of ecology, zoology, animal behaviour, and evolutionary biology but will also be of interest to social scientists.


Capture-Recapture: Parameter Estimation for Open Animal Populations

Capture-Recapture: Parameter Estimation for Open Animal Populations

Author: George A. F. Seber

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-08-13

Total Pages: 669

ISBN-13: 3030181871

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This comprehensive book, rich with applications, offers a quantitative framework for the analysis of the various capture-recapture models for open animal populations, while also addressing associated computational methods. The state of our wildlife populations provides a litmus test for the state of our environment, especially in light of global warming and the increasing pollution of our land, seas, and air. In addition to monitoring our food resources such as fisheries, we need to protect endangered species from the effects of human activities (e.g. rhinos, whales, or encroachments on the habitat of orangutans). Pests must be be controlled, whether insects or viruses, and we need to cope with growing feral populations such as opossums, rabbits, and pigs. Accordingly, we need to obtain information about a given population’s dynamics, concerning e.g. mortality, birth, growth, breeding, sex, and migration, and determine whether the respective population is increasing , static, or declining. There are many methods for obtaining population information, but the most useful (and most work-intensive) is generically known as “capture-recapture,” where we mark or tag a representative sample of individuals from the population and follow that sample over time using recaptures, resightings, or dead recoveries. Marks can be natural, such as stripes, fin profiles, and even DNA; or artificial, such as spots on insects. Attached tags can, for example, be simple bands or streamers, or more sophisticated variants such as radio and sonic transmitters. To estimate population parameters, sophisticated and complex mathematical models have been devised on the basis of recapture information and computer packages. This book addresses the analysis of such models. It is primarily intended for ecologists and wildlife managers who wish to apply the methods to the types of problems discussed above, though it will also benefit researchers and graduate students in ecology. Familiarity with basic statistical concepts is essential.


Population Ecology in Practice

Population Ecology in Practice

Author: Dennis L. Murray

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-02-10

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 0470674148

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A synthesis of contemporary analytical and modeling approaches in population ecology The book provides an overview of the key analytical approaches that are currently used in demographic, genetic, and spatial analyses in population ecology. The chapters present current problems, introduce advances in analytical methods and models, and demonstrate the applications of quantitative methods to ecological data. The book covers new tools for designing robust field studies; estimation of abundance and demographic rates; matrix population models and analyses of population dynamics; and current approaches for genetic and spatial analysis. Each chapter is illustrated by empirical examples based on real datasets, with a companion website that offers online exercises and examples of computer code in the R statistical software platform. Fills a niche for a book that emphasizes applied aspects of population analysis Covers many of the current methods being used to analyse population dynamics and structure Illustrates the application of specific analytical methods through worked examples based on real datasets Offers readers the opportunity to work through examples or adapt the routines to their own datasets using computer code in the R statistical platform Population Ecology in Practice is an excellent book for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in population ecology or ecological statistics, as well as established researchers needing a desktop reference for contemporary methods used to develop robust population assessments.


Environmental Data Analysis

Environmental Data Analysis

Author: Carsten Dormann

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-12-20

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 3030550206

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Environmental Data Analysis is an introductory statistics textbook for environmental science. It covers descriptive, inferential and predictive statistics, centred on the Generalized Linear Model. The key idea behind this book is to approach statistical analyses from the perspective of maximum likelihood, essentially treating most analyses as (multiple) regression problems. The reader will be introduced to statistical distributions early on, and will learn to deploy models suitable for the data at hand, which in environmental science are often not normally distributed. To make the initially steep learning curve more manageable, each statistical chapter is followed by a walk-through in a corresponding R-based how-to chapter, which reviews the theory and applies it to environmental data. In this way, a coherent and expandable foundation in parametric statistics is laid, which can be expanded in advanced courses.The content has been “field-tested” in several years of courses on statistics for Environmental Science, Geography and Forestry taught at the University of Freiburg.