Statistics with Applications in Biology and Geology

The use of statistics is fundamental to many endeavors in biology and geology. For students and professionals in these fields, there is no better way to build a statistical background than to present the concepts and techniques in a context relevant to their interests. Statistics with Applications in Biology and Geology provides a practical introduction to using fundamental parametric statistical models frequently applied to data analysis in biology and geology.

Based on material developed for an introductory statistics course and classroom tested for nearly 10 years, this treatment establishes a firm basis in models, the likelihood method, and numeracy. The models addressed include one sample, two samples, one- and two-way analysis of variance, and linear regression for normal data and similar models for binomial, multinomial, and Poisson data. Building on the familiarity developed with those models, the generalized linear models are introduced, making it possible for readers to handle fairly complicated models for both continuous and discrete data. Models for directional data are treated as well. The emphasis is on parametric models, but the book also includes a chapter on the most important nonparametric tests.

This presentation incorporates the use of the SAS statistical software package, which authors use to illustrate all of the statistical tools described. However, to reinforce understanding of the basic concepts, calculations for the simplest models are also worked through by hand. SAS programs and the data used in the examples and exercises are available on the Internet.