Ecology Study Guides
Ecology Study Guide – January 9 - 14, 2014
Text – Chapter 1, and Supplemental Materials
Terms:
Ecology: the scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environment.
Abiotic: non-living (Physical) and Biotic: living.
(Hypothesis testing)
Accuracy: the degree of closeness of measurements of a quantity to that quantity's actual (true) value.
Precision: the degree to which repeated measurements under unchanged conditions show the same results.
Normal curve distribution: means that the most frequent values are found in the middle of the curve. That is, the mean of the data is in the middle and the highest and lowest values are the least frequent.
Skewed distribution: is where items bunch at the ends, or are evenly distributed throughout.
Variation / variability: the higher the variability in two groups, the less different they are, vice versa.
Descriptive Statistics –
Mean (or average): is probably the most commonly used method of describing central tendency.
Median: the score found at the exact middle of the set of values.
Mode: the most frequently occurring value in the set of scores.
Range: the highest value minus the lowest value.
Dispersion: the spread of the values around the central tendency.
Standard deviation: a more accurate and detailed estimate of dispersion because an outlier can greatly exaggerate the range.
T-tests: Testing a difference in only two normal samples.
ANOVA (analysis of variance): Testing a difference in multiple normal samples
We have to run post-hoc tests after we run an ANOVA to find where the difference lies.
Krukall-Wallis test: Same as ANOVA, but for non-normal samples.
Correlation: a statistical test used to test the linear association between two continuous variables.
A parametric correlation test is known as Pearsonian correlation while the non-parametric equivalent is the Spearman correlation.
Regression: identifying the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more
Text – Chapter 1, and Supplemental Materials
Terms:
Ecology: the scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environment.
Abiotic: non-living (Physical) and Biotic: living.
(Hypothesis testing)
Accuracy: the degree of closeness of measurements of a quantity to that quantity's actual (true) value.
Precision: the degree to which repeated measurements under unchanged conditions show the same results.
Normal curve distribution: means that the most frequent values are found in the middle of the curve. That is, the mean of the data is in the middle and the highest and lowest values are the least frequent.
Skewed distribution: is where items bunch at the ends, or are evenly distributed throughout.
Variation / variability: the higher the variability in two groups, the less different they are, vice versa.
Descriptive Statistics –
Mean (or average): is probably the most commonly used method of describing central tendency.
Median: the score found at the exact middle of the set of values.
Mode: the most frequently occurring value in the set of scores.
Range: the highest value minus the lowest value.
Dispersion: the spread of the values around the central tendency.
Standard deviation: a more accurate and detailed estimate of dispersion because an outlier can greatly exaggerate the range.
T-tests: Testing a difference in only two normal samples.
ANOVA (analysis of variance): Testing a difference in multiple normal samples
We have to run post-hoc tests after we run an ANOVA to find where the difference lies.
Krukall-Wallis test: Same as ANOVA, but for non-normal samples.
Correlation: a statistical test used to test the linear association between two continuous variables.
A parametric correlation test is known as Pearsonian correlation while the non-parametric equivalent is the Spearman correlation.
Regression: identifying the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more