Science and Products
Evaluating the Design of the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey
The Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey (WBPHS) is a primary source of waterfowl population status and trend information for management of ducks in North America. The survey has not been reviewed in several decades, and since the last review new analysis approaches and information needs have created a need to reassess the design, scope of inference, and analysis of the survey to...
Population Change and Abundance of Black Ducks and Mallards in Eastern North America
The boreal forest in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada contains most of the breeding range of the American black duck (Anas rubripes). We collaborate with scientists from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to design and analyze waterfowl surveys in this large and often inaccessible area.
Implementing Cross Validation Approaches for Model Selection and Evaluating Goodness of Fit in Complex Hierarchical Models
It is (relatively) easy to construct complex hierarchical models for analysis of the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), but deciding which model best describes population change is difficult. We are developing methods for model selection for BBS and other important survey data sets, and using them to refine our estimates of population change from this important survey.
Design and Analysis of Surveys for Estimation of Temporal and Spatial Change in Animal Populations
Designing and analyzing large-scale animal surveys is an important focus of our research. Although we conduct research into analysis methods for many surveys, the primary focus of this project is to conduct analyses and develop web-based summaries of data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS).
Hierarchical Models for Estimation of Population Parameters
The Challenge: Much of wildlife research consists of the description of variation in data. Some of the variation results from spatial and temporal change in populations, while some results from biologically irrelevant sampling variation induced by the process of data collection. Distinguishing relevant from irrelevant variation is the first task of statistical analysis, but the job does not end...
Development of Statistical Methods for Biological Applications
The Challenge: Wildlife science and management are guided by data, and it is unquestionably the case that the greatest success occurs when good data are analyzed by good statistical methods.
Managing Free-Roaming Cats at the Patuxent Research Refuge
The Challenge: Free-roaming cats (Felis catus) are nonnative predators of small mammals, songbirds and gamebirds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. They are also competitors of native predators and vectors for diseases to human and wildlife. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is authorized to remove cats from National Wildlife Refuges. Presently cat trapping on Refuge lands is conducted...
Toxicity of the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Diclofenac
One of the hallmarks of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) is the difficulty in predicting potentially toxic effects.Diclofenac is one such NSAID that devastated Asian vulture populations when they fed upon carcasses of livestock treated with the NSAID diclofenac.Because these drugs are widely used, we studied the potential hazard of diclofenac in New World vultures.
Science and Products
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Evaluating the Design of the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey
The Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey (WBPHS) is a primary source of waterfowl population status and trend information for management of ducks in North America. The survey has not been reviewed in several decades, and since the last review new analysis approaches and information needs have created a need to reassess the design, scope of inference, and analysis of the survey to...Population Change and Abundance of Black Ducks and Mallards in Eastern North America
The boreal forest in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada contains most of the breeding range of the American black duck (Anas rubripes). We collaborate with scientists from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to design and analyze waterfowl surveys in this large and often inaccessible area.Implementing Cross Validation Approaches for Model Selection and Evaluating Goodness of Fit in Complex Hierarchical Models
It is (relatively) easy to construct complex hierarchical models for analysis of the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), but deciding which model best describes population change is difficult. We are developing methods for model selection for BBS and other important survey data sets, and using them to refine our estimates of population change from this important survey.Design and Analysis of Surveys for Estimation of Temporal and Spatial Change in Animal Populations
Designing and analyzing large-scale animal surveys is an important focus of our research. Although we conduct research into analysis methods for many surveys, the primary focus of this project is to conduct analyses and develop web-based summaries of data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS).Hierarchical Models for Estimation of Population Parameters
The Challenge: Much of wildlife research consists of the description of variation in data. Some of the variation results from spatial and temporal change in populations, while some results from biologically irrelevant sampling variation induced by the process of data collection. Distinguishing relevant from irrelevant variation is the first task of statistical analysis, but the job does not end...Development of Statistical Methods for Biological Applications
The Challenge: Wildlife science and management are guided by data, and it is unquestionably the case that the greatest success occurs when good data are analyzed by good statistical methods.Managing Free-Roaming Cats at the Patuxent Research Refuge
The Challenge: Free-roaming cats (Felis catus) are nonnative predators of small mammals, songbirds and gamebirds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. They are also competitors of native predators and vectors for diseases to human and wildlife. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is authorized to remove cats from National Wildlife Refuges. Presently cat trapping on Refuge lands is conducted...Toxicity of the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Diclofenac
One of the hallmarks of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) is the difficulty in predicting potentially toxic effects.Diclofenac is one such NSAID that devastated Asian vulture populations when they fed upon carcasses of livestock treated with the NSAID diclofenac.Because these drugs are widely used, we studied the potential hazard of diclofenac in New World vultures. - Data
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