quantitative wildlife ecology thinking quantitatively fear of mathematics uncertainty & the art...
TRANSCRIPT
Quantitative Wildlife Ecology
• Thinking Quantitatively
• Fear of mathematics
• Uncertainty & the art
• Sampling, experimental design, & analyses
• Presentation & communication
Quantitative Wildlife Ecology
• Thinking Quantitatively– Gaining reliable knowledge
• Logical• Creative• Organized
– May not require statistics, calculus, or other advanced math» Graphical analyses, observations, information theory, etc.
Quantitative Wildlife Ecology
• Have no fear!– It’s all modeling (i.e., understanding relationships)
• Graphical• Observational• Calculus
– Population ecology
• Most is simple math– +, -, x,
Quantitative Wildlife Ecology
• Uncertainty must be recognized– Best guess
• Art or science?– No substitute for experience
• Statistics vs. biological reality– Do no be fooled!
The object is to teach the student to see the land, to understand what he sees and enjoy what he understands--Aldo Leopold
Quantitative Wildlife Ecology
• 2 parts– Sampling & Experimental Design– Analyses
• Graphical• Traditional “stats”• Other techniques
• Which is– More important?– Least understood & taught?
Quantitative Wildlife Ecology
• Worthless without proper presentation– Technical writing & presentation– Recognize uncertainty/variability
Technical Writing
• What
• Why
• How
Technical Writing
• If no one knows or understands what you have done, what good is it!– Present it as clearly & simply as possible!
Technical Writing
• Know the reader/audience– Popular
• Magazine– Field & Stream
– Semi-technical• Trade journal
– Rangelands
– Technical• Scientific journal
– Journal of Wildlife Management
Technical Writing
• Every publication & scientific journal is different– Content & focus– Style– Format
• For this course: Journal of Wildlife Management– CBE Style Manual
Technical Writing
• In general– Clear, concise, & focused– Well-organized– Uniform units
• Do not change• Metric
– Active voice– Proper tense– Review it!
Technical Writing
• Typical sections– Title– Abstract– Introduction– Methods
• Study Area
– Results– Discussion– Literature cited– Other
Technical Writing
• Title– Short– Indicative of manuscript content
Technical Writing
• Abstract– Summary
• Problem studied and/or hypothesis tested• Pertinent methods• Important results & conclusions• Utility of results
– Length restrictions• 3%
Technical Writing
• Introduction– Literature review v. justification
• State the problem or issue• Justify the importance of the problem & need for
study• State the study objectives
– How you will “solve the problem or address the issue”
– Most difficult section to write!
Technical Writing
• Study area– Separate from or part of Methods– Where did you do the study– What was it composed of?
Technical Writing
• Methods– Enough detail so your study can be repeated
exactly• Dates, sampling scheme, duration, experimental
design, & analyses
– Common methods can be cited
– Relate to objectives• Addressed• Order
Technical Writing
• Results– Clear, simple, concise, & organized
• Follow objectives & methods
– Often very “dry”
– Sometimes combined with Discussion (not in JWM!)
Technical Writing
• Results– Do not explain analyses (Methods) or discuss
results (Discussion)
– Describe magnitude of biological effects as well as statistical results
• Do not say “The regression analyses found….”
– Do not omit “negative” or “no differences” results
Technical Writing
• Results– Do not repeat information found in tables &
figures (which are part of the Results section, but found at the end of the manuscript)
– Use tables and/or figures only when they allow results to be presented more clearly & concisely than text
Technical Writing
• Results– Reference tables & figures in text
• (Table 1) not (see Table 1) or “Table 1 shows….”
– Tables & figures must stand alone• Include date & location
Technical Writing
• Discussion– “tell the story” – what did you learn!
• Interpret data• Do data support hypotheses?• Make comparisons to literature• Do not repeat results• Comment on only the most important results• Limit speculation & presentation of new hypotheses• Be synthetic & relate your findings to overall
objectives & hypotheses
– May end with a summary (usually not in JWM!)
Technical Writing
• Management Implications (JWM)– Explain issues important to management &
conservation derived directly from your results• Thing’s a manager can use & apply• Do not restate Results or Discussion
Technical Writing
• Literature cited– Formats vary
• Primary literature*
• Internet• Textbooks• Popular articles• Reports & gray literature• Unpublished data• Personal communications
Technical Writing
• Acknowledgments– Straight forward
• People• Funding & support
Technical Writing
• Other– See guidelines
Data Presentation
• What
• How
• Why
Data Presentation
• Clear & concise
• Measure of uncertainty/variability or fit– ± SE– r2
Data Presentation
• Always provide units– 10 ± 2 deer/ha (mean ± SE)
• Know the audience– Layperson, manager, scientist
Data Presentation
• Text– Presentation outline v. manuscript
• Tables & Figures– Stand alone– Presentation v. manuscript