Ecological Inference

Ecological Inference PDF Author: Gary King
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521542807
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
Drawing upon the recent explosion of research in the field, a diverse group of scholars surveys the latest strategies for solving ecological inference problems, the process of trying to infer individual behavior from aggregate data. The uncertainties and information lost in aggregation make ecological inference one of the most difficult areas of statistical inference, but these inferences are required in many academic fields, as well as by legislatures and the Courts in redistricting, marketing research by business, and policy analysis by governments. This wide-ranging collection of essays offers many fresh and important contributions to the study of ecological inference.

Ecological Inference

Ecological Inference PDF Author: Gary King
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521542807
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 436

Get Book Here

Book Description
Drawing upon the recent explosion of research in the field, a diverse group of scholars surveys the latest strategies for solving ecological inference problems, the process of trying to infer individual behavior from aggregate data. The uncertainties and information lost in aggregation make ecological inference one of the most difficult areas of statistical inference, but these inferences are required in many academic fields, as well as by legislatures and the Courts in redistricting, marketing research by business, and policy analysis by governments. This wide-ranging collection of essays offers many fresh and important contributions to the study of ecological inference.

A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem

A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem PDF Author: Gary King
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400849209
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
This book provides a solution to the ecological inference problem, which has plagued users of statistical methods for over seventy-five years: How can researchers reliably infer individual-level behavior from aggregate (ecological) data? In political science, this question arises when individual-level surveys are unavailable (for instance, local or comparative electoral politics), unreliable (racial politics), insufficient (political geography), or infeasible (political history). This ecological inference problem also confronts researchers in numerous areas of major significance in public policy, and other academic disciplines, ranging from epidemiology and marketing to sociology and quantitative history. Although many have attempted to make such cross-level inferences, scholars agree that all existing methods yield very inaccurate conclusions about the world. In this volume, Gary King lays out a unique--and reliable--solution to this venerable problem. King begins with a qualitative overview, readable even by those without a statistical background. He then unifies the apparently diverse findings in the methodological literature, so that only one aggregation problem remains to be solved. He then presents his solution, as well as empirical evaluations of the solution that include over 16,000 comparisons of his estimates from real aggregate data to the known individual-level answer. The method works in practice. King's solution to the ecological inference problem will enable empirical researchers to investigate substantive questions that have heretofore proved unanswerable, and move forward fields of inquiry in which progress has been stifled by this problem.

Hierarchical Modeling and Inference in Ecology

Hierarchical Modeling and Inference in Ecology PDF Author: J. Andrew Royle
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080559255
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 463

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Book Description
A guide to data collection, modeling and inference strategies for biological survey data using Bayesian and classical statistical methods.This book describes a general and flexible framework for modeling and inference in ecological systems based on hierarchical models, with a strict focus on the use of probability models and parametric inference. Hierarchical models represent a paradigm shift in the application of statistics to ecological inference problems because they combine explicit models of ecological system structure or dynamics with models of how ecological systems are observed. The principles of hierarchical modeling are developed and applied to problems in population, metapopulation, community, and metacommunity systems. The book provides the first synthetic treatment of many recent methodological advances in ecological modeling and unifies disparate methods and procedures.The authors apply principles of hierarchical modeling to ecological problems, including * occurrence or occupancy models for estimating species distribution* abundance models based on many sampling protocols, including distance sampling* capture-recapture models with individual effects* spatial capture-recapture models based on camera trapping and related methods* population and metapopulation dynamic models* models of biodiversity, community structure and dynamics - Wide variety of examples involving many taxa (birds, amphibians, mammals, insects, plants) - Development of classical, likelihood-based procedures for inference, as well as Bayesian methods of analysis - Detailed explanations describing the implementation of hierarchical models using freely available software such as R and WinBUGS - Computing support in technical appendices in an online companion web site

Bayesian Inference

Bayesian Inference PDF Author: William A Link
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0080889808
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
This text is written to provide a mathematically sound but accessible and engaging introduction to Bayesian inference specifically for environmental scientists, ecologists and wildlife biologists. It emphasizes the power and usefulness of Bayesian methods in an ecological context. The advent of fast personal computers and easily available software has simplified the use of Bayesian and hierarchical models . One obstacle remains for ecologists and wildlife biologists, namely the near absence of Bayesian texts written specifically for them. The book includes many relevant examples, is supported by software and examples on a companion website and will become an essential grounding in this approach for students and research ecologists. Engagingly written text specifically designed to demystify a complex subject Examples drawn from ecology and wildlife research An essential grounding for graduate and research ecologists in the increasingly prevalent Bayesian approach to inference Companion website with analytical software and examples Leading authors with world-class reputations in ecology and biostatistics

Ecological Scale

Ecological Scale PDF Author: David Lawrence Peterson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231105033
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 638

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Book Description
Ecological Scale provides invaluable perspectives on the application of the concepts of measurement, analysis, and inference in both theoretical and applied ecology, ultimately providing a broad-based understanding for resource managers and other ecological professionals.

Mapping Species Distributions

Mapping Species Distributions PDF Author: Janet Franklin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139485296
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 538

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Book Description
Maps of species' distributions or habitat suitability are required for many aspects of environmental research, resource management and conservation planning. These include biodiversity assessment, reserve design, habitat management and restoration, species and habitat conservation plans and predicting the effects of environmental change on species and ecosystems. The proliferation of methods and uncertainty regarding their effectiveness can be daunting to researchers, resource managers and conservation planners alike. Franklin summarises the methods used in species distribution modeling (also called niche modeling) and presents a framework for spatial prediction of species distributions based on the attributes (space, time, scale) of the data and questions being asked. The framework links theoretical ecological models of species distributions to spatial data on species and environment, and statistical models used for spatial prediction. Providing practical guidelines to students, researchers and practitioners in a broad range of environmental sciences including ecology, geography, conservation biology, and natural resources management.

Ecological Inference

Ecological Inference PDF Author: Laura Irwin Langbein
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 78

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Book Description
Explores the utility of techniques designed to make the inferences in causal modeling more reliable, including a comparison between ecological regression models and ecological correlation.Learn more about "The Little Green Book" - QASS Series! Click Here

Introduction to Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling for Ecological Data

Introduction to Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling for Ecological Data PDF Author: Eric Parent
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1584889195
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 429

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Book Description
Making statistical modeling and inference more accessible to ecologists and related scientists, Introduction to Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling for Ecological Data gives readers a flexible and effective framework to learn about complex ecological processes from various sources of data. It also helps readers get started on building their own statistical models. The text begins with simple models that progressively become more complex and realistic through explanatory covariates and intermediate hidden states variables. When fitting the models to data, the authors gradually present the concepts and techniques of the Bayesian paradigm from a practical point of view using real case studies. They emphasize how hierarchical Bayesian modeling supports multidimensional models involving complex interactions between parameters and latent variables. Data sets, exercises, and R and WinBUGS codes are available on the authors’ website. This book shows how Bayesian statistical modeling provides an intuitive way to organize data, test ideas, investigate competing hypotheses, and assess degrees of confidence of predictions. It also illustrates how conditional reasoning can dismantle a complex reality into more understandable pieces. As conditional reasoning is intimately linked with Bayesian thinking, considering hierarchical models within the Bayesian setting offers a unified and coherent framework for modeling, estimation, and prediction.

Introduction to WinBUGS for Ecologists

Introduction to WinBUGS for Ecologists PDF Author: Marc Kéry
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0123786061
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Introduction to WinBUGS for Ecologists introduces applied Bayesian modeling to ecologists using the highly acclaimed, free WinBUGS software. It offers an understanding of statistical models as abstract representations of the various processes that give rise to a data set. Such an understanding is basic to the development of inference models tailored to specific sampling and ecological scenarios. The book begins by presenting the advantages of a Bayesian approach to statistics and introducing the WinBUGS software. It reviews the four most common statistical distributions: the normal, the uniform, the binomial, and the Poisson. It describes the two different kinds of analysis of variance (ANOVA): one-way and two- or multiway. It looks at the general linear model, or ANCOVA, in R and WinBUGS. It introduces generalized linear model (GLM), i.e., the extension of the normal linear model to allow error distributions other than the normal. The GLM is then extended contain additional sources of random variation to become a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) for a Poisson example and for a binomial example. The final two chapters showcase two fairly novel and nonstandard versions of a GLMM. The first is the site-occupancy model for species distributions; the second is the binomial (or N-) mixture model for estimation and modeling of abundance. - Introduction to the essential theories of key models used by ecologists - Complete juxtaposition of classical analyses in R and Bayesian analysis of the same models in WinBUGS - Provides every detail of R and WinBUGS code required to conduct all analyses - Companion Web Appendix that contains all code contained in the book and additional material (including more code and solutions to exercises)

Handbook of Environmental and Ecological Statistics

Handbook of Environmental and Ecological Statistics PDF Author: Alan E. Gelfand
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1498752128
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 876

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Book Description
This handbook focuses on the enormous literature applying statistical methodology and modelling to environmental and ecological processes. The 21st century statistics community has become increasingly interdisciplinary, bringing a large collection of modern tools to all areas of application in environmental processes. In addition, the environmental community has substantially increased its scope of data collection including observational data, satellite-derived data, and computer model output. The resultant impact in this latter community has been substantial; no longer are simple regression and analysis of variance methods adequate. The contribution of this handbook is to assemble a state-of-the-art view of this interface. Features: An internationally regarded editorial team. A distinguished collection of contributors. A thoroughly contemporary treatment of a substantial interdisciplinary interface. Written to engage both statisticians as well as quantitative environmental researchers. 34 chapters covering methodology, ecological processes, environmental exposure, and statistical methods in climate science.