Who am I?
30 March 2020
My role as course instructor
- Help you learn the material
- Help you learn how to ask for help
- Be a future resource
Who are you?
Introduce yourself
Tell us via Zoom chat:
Your degree program (MS, PhD)
Your school/department
Your area of study (a phrase or short sentence)
What is this course about?
Two major goals in ecology:
1. Infer process from pattern
Process \(\overset{?}{\Rightarrow}\) Pattern
Pattern \(= f(\)Process\()\)
Data \(= f(\)Process\()\)
Data = Process + Noise
Ecological data often have lots of noise
Our challenge is to separate
the signal from the noise
Two major goals in ecology:
1. Infer process from pattern
2. Make predictions
Ecological forecasting
How will [some future scenario] affect
[some ecosystem service]?
General approach
Question \(\rightarrow\) Data \(\rightarrow\) Model \(\rightarrow\) Inference \(\rightarrow\) Prediction
Forms of linear models
| Errors | Single random process | Multiple random processes |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | Linear Model (LM) | Linear Mixed Model (LMM) |
| Non-normal | Generalized Linear Model (GLM) | Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) |
Forms of linear models
Learning objectives for the course
By the end of the quarter, students should be able to:
Identify an appropriate statistical model based on the data and specific question
Understand the assumptions behind a chosen statistical model
Use R to fit a variety of linear models to data
Evaluate data support for various models and select the most parsimonious model among them
Use R Markdown to combine text, equations, code, tables, and figures into reports