This text aims to translate the methods of statisticians into "ecological English", so that students may readily apply these methods to the real world. The book offers a balance of material on animal and plant populations and teaches students of ecology how to design the most efficient tests in order to obtain maximum precision with minimal work. Rather than emphasizing the derivation of mathematical formulae, the text emphasizes the use of statistics, and focuses on how to measure ecological parameters such as population size and species diversity. Students learn effective ways to set up field experiments and observations and the different methods that work best for different situations. The text also includes the common statistical problems, valid for all types of plant and animal populations and community studies. Boxed features highlight key concepts and examples from literature show how methods are used in the real world.
Table of Contents
I. Ecological Data. 1. Estimating Abundance in Animal and Plant Populations. 2. Estimating Abundance: Mark-Recapture Techniques. 3. Estimating Abundance: Removal Methods and Resight Methods. 4. Estimating Abundance: Quadrat Counts. 5. Estimating Abundance: Line Transects and Distance Methods. II. Spatial Pattern in Animal and Plant Populations. 6. Spatial Pattern and Indices of Dispersion. III. Sampling and Experimental Design. 7. Sample Size Determination and Statistical Power. 8. Sampling Designs: Random, Adaptive, and Systematic Sampling. 9. Sequential Sampling. 10. Experimental Designs. @PARTHEAD IV. Estimating Community Parameters. 11. Similarity Coefficients and Cluster Analysis. 12. Species Diversity Measures. 13. Niche Measures and Resource Preferences. V. Ecological Miscellanea. 14. Estimation of Survival Rates. 15. The Garbage Can. Appendices. References. Index.
Author Biography
Charles Krebs is Professor of Zoology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and has been teaching for 40 years. He received his B.S. from the University of Minnesota and earned both his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia. In addition to teaching ecology, he has worked extensively on the population of rodents in Northern Canada, the United States, and Australia, trying to understand the mechanisms behind population fluctuations. He has published three ecology textbooks including Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance, Fifth Edition and Ecological Methodology, Second Edition both published by Benjamin Cummings. In his spare time, Charles can be found drinking fine wines.hors have any!) hiking and kayaking. He is married and has three cats.
