Statistical inference for hierarchical models with applications in ecology

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Quantifying statistical evidence for various ecological and environmental problems is essential before any policy decisions can be made. For example, is there an impact of oil sands development on wildlife in North East Alberta? How should we mitigate such effect? Would a species go extinct in the next 50 years? What effect does aquaculture have on wild salmon? Would these activities increase cancer rates in nearby communities? Is the biodiversity being affected by human disturbances? In the last several years, I have developed statistical methods that answer some of these questions in a quantitative fashion. This proposal develops new statistical models and objective statistical inference procedures to address these issues. These models are complex taking into account spatial and temporal dependencies. The data generally are large but also have measurement errors in addition to the environmental noise. The methods we develop overcome these difficulties using computationally intensive methods. The results of the proposed research will help scientist analyze their data in an efficient and objective fashion and will also help lead them to make effective management decisions.