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Course Descriptions
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Schedule:
**Policy & Planning
**Science & Statistics
Staff
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Population Viability Analysis IV ( CSP4140 ) course will explore the theory and application of analytical approaches and models useful to the management of plant and animal populations. Emphasis will also be placed on reliable estimation of species presence/absence-based population measures (for example, patch occupancy, species range or distribution, proportion of area occupied), while accounting for imperfect detection. The goals of the course are to: (1) learn how to apply recently developed analytical methods to make robust inferences about patterns and dynamics of species occurrence and factors that affect them (for example, habitat, human disturbance, climate); (2) develop and facilitate the design of studies and monitoring programs that are both efficient and useful in the field; and (3) provide the students with important individual design advice to facilitate the collection of useful and high quality data. The course is designed for the students to learn the concepts and techniques through lectures, exercises, and working with field data sets.
Concepts and techniques covered in class will include: (1) the why, what, and how of inferences about animal populations; (2) relevance of species occurrence modeling to ecology and conservation; (3) relevant statistical methods and approaches; (4) model selection procedures such as Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Bayes factors; (5) investigating patterns in occupancy at a single point or patch in time; (6) making inference about species occurrence changes through time (dynamics and lambda values for a potential interval); (7) study design; (8) species co-occurrence analysis based on occupancy modeling; and (9) multi-state occupancy and community level approaches based on occupancy modeling.
College
Credit: 2 semester hours.
Who Should
Attend: Biologist and researchers involved in monitoring or studies associated with issues surrounding presence/absence.
Prerequisites: For FWS employees a basic course in statistics or permission of the Science Curriculum Leader (Alan Temple, Ph.D.) or Course Leader (Joseph Witt, Ph.D.).
Length: 4 days/34 hours
Objectives: The objective of this course is to develop the design and practical modeling skills in the students, based on occupancy modeling and the program PRESENCE. Given the diverse array of models and procedures available the student(s) will be able to assess and critique populations or interactions using the appropriate model selection procedures useful to occupancy modeling.
| Availability: |
Annually |
| Contact: |
Alan Temple |
| Branch: |
Conservation Science & Policy Branch |
| Phone: |
304/876-7440 |
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