Biology
BI 171 Biological Principles I, Stefanie Otto-Hitt
- Lab #2: Termites and Descriptive Statistics: In this lab students use descriptive statistics, confidence intervals, and bar graphs on a student-generated experimental design.
- Lab #3: Spinach Chromotography: In this lab students use descriptive statistics, confidence intervals, and bar graphs to study pigment in spinach.
- Lab #5: Photosynthetic Pigment Experiment: In this lab students use the paired t-test to make inference about statistical significance. Students will also explore Type I and Type II errors.
- Lab #8: BI 171 Lab 8 - Micropipetting Tetrahymena Experimental Design: In this lab students will use linear regression to analyze data.
Data Sets
- Mouse Mass Data (Excel)
- Paired scrub lizard data for Paired T Test (Excel)
- Montana mosquito trapping data versus West Nile Virus. There are many possibilities with this data set that catalogs mosquito trapping effort, the number of pools testing positive for WNV, and the number of human cases for each year from 2003 - 2015. For example, are the number of human cases associated with mosquito abundance, infection rate, or both? Note: Culex tarsalis is the mosquito species that is the primary vector for WNV in Montana. Combine this dataset with a review of the following scholarly article: Hokit G, Alvey S, Geiger JM, Johnson GD, Rolston MG, Kinsey DT, Bear NT. 2013. Using undergraduate researchers to build vector and west nile virus surveillance capacity. Int J Environ Res Public Health 10(8):3192-202.
- Raw Data Sources for Studies in Biology and Environmental Studies
BI 311 Ecology, Grant Hokit
- Simulation Analysis of Population Dynamics Students will be completing computer exercises that will provide them with the technical skills necessary to model populations. They will first use data for the Florida scrub lizard to make predictions about the extinction probability of particular populations. They will start with basic life-history data and estimate fundamental population parameters. Then they will progress through exponential growth, logistic growth, and stochastic models.
- Of Frogs and Frequency AnalysisLong thought to be restricted to the realm of science fiction, cryobiologists (biologists who study of how living organisms respond to cold temperatures) have discovered many organisms that can survive the effects of freezing. One famous example is the wood frog (Rana sylvatica) that can survive being frozen for months out of the year, only to thaw and resume normal life functions during the summer. Carroll biologists studied the wood frog in Denali National Park trying to determine the habitat requirements for this unusual amphibian (see Hokit and Brown 2006). The central method involved counting pond sites with versus without wood frogs with respect to categorized habitat conditions.
This exercise will introduce you to a common type of inferential statistic known as frequency analysis (also known as Chi-square Test for Independence). Frequency analysis allows you to test for differences between two or more data sets that are nothing more than counts of observed events. Anything you can count can be tested with frequency analysis.
- Roaming Lizards and T-Tests Students use a simple t-test to test for differences between female and male home range sizes.
- Using Macroinvertebrates to Assess Biotic Health Acid mine drainage has polluted many of Montana's favorite trout fisheries including the famous Blackfoot River. Mining activity exposes mineralized bedrock material and can lead to a decrease in pH with an increase in heavy-metal concentrations. Arsenic, cadmium, lead and zinc are artificially high in many Montana rivers and have lead to destruction of viable fisheries. We have also found that biological monitoring or bioassessment (using biological organisms to assess stream health) is often better at identifying stream problems than alternative hi-tech gadgets. Hi-tech probes are usually restricted to measuring one factor (e.g. pH or conductivity) over a short period of time. Biological organisms must live in the stream environment their entire life and deal with all of the interacting chemical components. For example, macroinvertebrates (stream invertebrates larger than 1000 microns) have been used to assess the recovery efforts of many rivers (McGuire 1999).
- Lewis and Clark Encounter Black Snakes
- Experimental Design and Geographical Position Systems For this lab we will distinguish between the different types of experimental studies, practice mapping/geographic locations, and practice techniques for estimating sample sizes.
- Vegetation Analysis, Central Dendencies and Literature Review
- Analysis of Intertebreates, Measures of Dispersion and Classifying Variables
- Data Presentation and Introduction to Inferential Statistics
- Frequency Analysis and Testing Parametric Assumptions
- Standard Parametric Analysis
- Nonparametric Tests: Rank Sum Test, Sign Tests, Kruskal-Wallis, and Friedman Tests
- Nonparametric Correlation Analysis: Spearman's Rank Correlation
YouTube Statistics Playlists
This project has been made possible through the generosity of the W.M. Keck Foundation.
kcline@carroll.edu