Fall semester

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This is a graduate level course that covers the fundamental concepts and methods of statistical analyses as they are employed in ecology and evolutionary biology. This includes a review of probability theory and distributions, particularly those distributions most commonly encountered in the discipline. The course treats parameter estimation and hypothesis testing in detail, with applications to their most common uses in empirical work. Frequentist, Likelihood, and Bayesian approaches will be compared and contrasted, with an emphasis on their practical and philosophical underpinnings. The course will emphasize the methods students are most likely to encounter in the current literature, with special emphasis on the practical aspects of sampling and experimental design. The course will also examine how biological ideas translate into the collection of data through field exercises in which the class will gather original data (as part of section 0003 – Field QM) and through readings and discussions of current journal articles. I also provide an introduction to R, a free software program for statistics and graphics, and we will be using R to analyze data.