Wildlife By The Numbers

In this episode of  Wildlife by the Numbers , hosts Matt, Grant, and Randy explore methods for estimating wildlife abundance using both marked and unmarked techniques. They discuss distance sampling, removal sampling, N-mixture models, capture-mark-recapture, and spatial capture-recapture. The conversation emphasizes the importance of robust study design, detection probability, and population...

In this episode, Matt, Grant, and Randy explore the importance of precision, variability, and detection probability in wildlife surveys. They emphasize the need for SMART objectives—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—in designing effective monitoring programs. Real-world examples, including bighorn sheep and Rio Yaqui fishes, illustrate how survey design, observation error,...

Grant, Matt, and Randy gear up to discuss precision, accuracy, and variability in wildlife studies. They dive into how variability measures data spread, using range, quartiles, standard deviation, variance, and coefficient of variation (CV). Accuracy reflects closeness to the true value, precision shows clustering of estimates. Standard errors, confidence intervals, and Bayesian credibility interv...

Which flavor of sampling would you use? In this episode of Wildlife By The Numbers, Grant, Matt, and Randy have a conversation on the different flavors of sampling. They begin with random sampling, then move on to stratified sampling and two stage sampling. Finishing up this flavor fest of sampling with focus sampling. Examples in this episode include snails and warblers. They even talk a little b...

Matt, Grant, and Randy finish up the discussion on peer-review publication highlighting their process for selecting journals, getting the submission ready, the review and handling rejections. Randy describes the process as both an author and an associate editor. From this episode: "Randy, what happens after an author submits a paper? How how does that work from a journal standpoint?" "Well, it goe...

In this episode of Wildlife By The Numbers, Grant and Matt continue their discussion on writing a scientific paper. They share with us writing the paper backwards by starting with the results, what to avoid in the discussion section, the abstract, title, and realistic number of drafts. Is 15 or 20 drafts a realistic number of drafts? Listen in and discover the answer. Quotes from this episode: "On...

In this episode of Wildlife By The Numbers, Matt and Grant, a duo who has been co-authoring papers together for over a decade, give a candid discussion on publication to share your work. They have a lively discussion of how they write a scientific paper, and dive into the Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections of a paper sharing how their writing was influenced by their professors...

In this episode of Wildlife By The Numbers, Matt, Grant, and Randy talk about the importance of representative samples and why it matters in wildlife work. Episode Quotes: "...layman's terms, bias is when you're reporting something that's really not valid because either your technique or your approach has provided answers that are no longer representative." "Some good examples of the availability...

In this episode, Matt, Randy, and Grant dive into a discussion of more in-depth real world examples related to precision estimates. Episode Quotes "...when you're talking about sample size, you're often doing this game of optimization where I'm trying to optimize precision with costs because I may need a precision of ten percent, but if it's gonna cost me a million dollars to get it, then we need...

In this episode of Wildlife by the Numbers, Grant, Matt, and Randy, delve into the importance of proper sample size in wildlife studies. They emphasize that an adequate sample size is crucial for obtaining accurate and precise data, which directly impacts the reliability of conservation efforts. Sample size ensures representativeness and precision, critical for drawing valid conclusions about wild...

Shifting focus to sample size determination, Matt, Grant, and Randy explore the challenges and considerations in choosing appropriate sample sizes for reliable ecological research. They discuss trade-offs, budget constraints, and introduce the concept of power analysis for enhancing the reliability of ecological studies. Quotes from this episode: "In this podcast, we're going to talk about sample...

Delving into the significance of random sampling, hosts Matt, Grant, and Randy, use real-world examples to illustrate challenges associated with sampling, stressing the importance of random sampling for accurate representations of wildlife populations. Episode quotes "...my question for the group is, do you think, they can actually achieve their objectives with a sample size of one, with one trans...

Hosts Matthew Butler, Grant Harris, and Randy Stewart set the stage for Wildlife by the Numbers emphasizing the importance of proper scientific approaches in wildlife ecology and sharing anecdotes to create awareness about the challenges and rewards of ecological research. Episode quotes: "Today, we're gonna talk about an issue that we often confront with biologists, particularly young biologists...