SGER: Ecological Meta-Analysis: Synthesizing the Results of Field Experiments on Competition and Predation

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This project will use meta-analysis to synthesize the results of independent ecological studies. Meta-analysis is a statistical approach that has had a profound impact on the resolution of longstanding questions in other fields, but has not previously been used in ecology. The research will extend existing meta-analysis techniques taken from the social sciences and epidemiology to analyze ecological data and to address ecological questions. Methods currently used to synthesize research results in ecology are logically, conceptually, and statistically flawed. Meta-analysis offers a sounder alternative, but the statistical models available are inadequate for many important tasks in ecology, such as examining interactions among factors. The proposed study will develop meta-analytic statistical models from ecological research (mixed models and factorial designs). These models will then be used to resolve a specific question, that of the effects of competition in the presence and in the absence of predators. Meta-analysis can potentially change the way conclusions are drawn from the outcome of experiments in ecology, and may have a major influence on the way data are collected, analyzed and interpreted in this field.