Population Parameters / Ecological Methods and Concepts (PDF)

Ecologists and environmental managers rely on mathematical models,
both to understand ecological systems and to predict future system
behavior. In turn, models rely on appropriate estimates of their
parameters.

This book brings together a diverse and scattered literature, to
provide clear guidance on how to estimate parameters for models of
animal populations. It is not a recipe book of statistical
procedures. Instead, it concentrates on how to select the best
approach to parameter estimation for a particular problem, and how
to ensure that the quality estimated is the appropriate one for the
specific purpose of the modelling exercise.

Commencing with a toolbox of useful generic approaches to
parameter estimation, the book deals with methods for estimating
parameters for single populations. These parameters include
population size, birth and death rates, and the population growth
rate. For such parameters, rigorous statistical theory has been
developed, and software is readily available. The problem is to
select the optimal sampling design and method of analysis. The
second part of the book deals with parameters that describe spatial
dynamics, and ecological interactions such as competition,
predation and parasitism. Here the principle problems are designing
appropriate experiments and ensuring that the quantities measured
by the experiments are relevant to the ecological models in which
they will be used.

This book will be essential reading for ecological researchers,
postgraduate students and environmental managers who need to
address an ecological problem through a population model. It is
accessible to anyone with an understanding of basic statistical
methods and population ecology.

* * Unique in concentrating on parameter estimation within
modelling.

* Fills a glaring gap in the literature.

* Not too technical, so suitable for the statistically
inept.

* Methods explained in algebra, but also in worked examples using
commonly available computer packages (SAS, GLIM, and some more
specialised packages where relvant). Some spreadsheet based
examples also included.