Aaron M. Ellison - Böcker

An international team of biologists, philosophers, and historians of science explores the critically important process of replication in biological and biomedical researchWithout replication, the trustworthiness of scientific research remains in doubt. Although replication is increasingly recognized as a central problem in many scientific disciplines, repeating the same scientific observations of experiments or reproducing the same set of analyses from existing data is remarkably difficult. In this important volume, an international team of biologists, philosophers, and historians of science addresses challenges and solutions for valid replication of research in medicine, ecology, natural history, agriculture, physiology, and computer science.  After the introduction to important concepts and historical background, the book offers paired chapters that provide theoretical overviews followed by detailed case studies. These studies range widely in topics, from infectious-diseases and environmental monitoring to museum collections, meta-analysis, bioinformatics, and more. The closing chapters explicate and quantify problems in the case studies, and the volume concludes with important recommendations for best practices.

A groundbreaking approach to scale and scaling in ecological theory and practiceScale is one of the most important concepts in ecology, yet researchers often find it difficult to find ecological systems that lend themselves to its study. Scaling in Ecology with a Model System synthesizes nearly three decades of research on the ecology of Sarracenia purpurea—the northern pitcher plant—showing how this carnivorous plant and its associated food web of microbes and macrobes can inform the challenging question of scaling in ecology.Drawing on a wealth of findings from their pioneering lab and field experiments, Aaron Ellison and Nicholas Gotelli reveal how the Sarracenia microecosystem has emerged as a model system for experimental ecology. Ellison and Gotelli examine Sarracenia at a hierarchy of spatial scales—individual pitchers within plants, plants within bogs, and bogs within landscapes—and demonstrate how pitcher plants can serve as replicate miniature ecosystems that can be studied in wetlands throughout the United States and Canada. They show how research on the Sarracenia microecosystem proceeds much more rapidly than studies of larger, more slowly changing ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, lakes, or streams, which are more difficult to replicate and experimentally manipulate.Scaling in Ecology with a Model System offers new insights into ecophysiology and stoichiometry, demography, extinction risk and species distribution models, food webs and trophic dynamics, and tipping points and regime shifts.

A groundbreaking approach to scale and scaling in ecological theory and practiceScale is one of the most important concepts in ecology, yet researchers often find it difficult to find ecological systems that lend themselves to its study. Scaling in Ecology with a Model System synthesizes nearly three decades of research on the ecology of Sarracenia purpurea—the northern pitcher plant—showing how this carnivorous plant and its associated food web of microbes and macrobes can inform the challenging question of scaling in ecology.Drawing on a wealth of findings from their pioneering lab and field experiments, Aaron Ellison and Nicholas Gotelli reveal how the Sarracenia microecosystem has emerged as a model system for experimental ecology. Ellison and Gotelli examine Sarracenia at a hierarchy of spatial scales—individual pitchers within plants, plants within bogs, and bogs within landscapes—and demonstrate how pitcher plants can serve as replicate miniature ecosystems that can be studied in wetlands throughout the United States and Canada. They show how research on the Sarracenia microecosystem proceeds much more rapidly than studies of larger, more slowly changing ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, lakes, or streams, which are more difficult to replicate and experimentally manipulate.Scaling in Ecology with a Model System offers new insights into ecophysiology and stoichiometry, demography, extinction risk and species distribution models, food webs and trophic dynamics, and tipping points and regime shifts.

An accessible guide to understanding statistics using simulations, with examples from a range of scientific disciplinesReal-world challenges such as small sample sizes, skewed distributions of data, biased sampling designs, and more predictors than data points are pushing the limits of classical statistical analysis. This textbook provides a new tool for the statistical toolkit: data simulations. It shows that using simulation and data-generating models is an excellent way to validate statistical reasoning and to augment study design and statistical analysis with planning and visualization. Although data simulations are not new to professional statisticians, Statistics by Simulation makes the approach accessible to a broader audience, with examples from many fields. It introduces the reasoning behind data simulation and then shows how to apply it in planning experiments or observational studies, developing analytical workflows, deploying model diagnostics, and developing new indices and statistical methods.• Covers all steps of statistical practice, from planning projects to post-hoc analysis and model checking• Provides examples from disciplines including sociology, psychology, ecology, economics, physics, and medicine• Includes R code for all examples, with data and code freely available online• Offers bullet-point outlines and summaries of each chapter• Minimizes the use of jargon and requires only basic statistical background and skills

An accessible guide to understanding statistics using simulations, with examples from a range of scientific disciplinesReal-world challenges such as small sample sizes, skewed distributions of data, biased sampling designs, and more predictors than data points are pushing the limits of classical statistical analysis. This textbook provides a new tool for the statistical toolkit: data simulations. It shows that using simulation and data-generating models is an excellent way to validate statistical reasoning and to augment study design and statistical analysis with planning and visualization. Although data simulations are not new to professional statisticians, Statistics by Simulation makes the approach accessible to a broader audience, with examples from many fields. It introduces the reasoning behind data simulation and then shows how to apply it in planning experiments or observational studies, developing analytical workflows, deploying model diagnostics, and developing new indices and statistical methods.• Covers all steps of statistical practice, from planning projects to post-hoc analysis and model checking• Provides examples from disciplines including sociology, psychology, ecology, economics, physics, and medicine• Includes R code for all examples, with data and code freely available online• Offers bullet-point outlines and summaries of each chapter• Minimizes the use of jargon and requires only basic statistical background and skills

This book is a complete guide for students on how to make the most of intensive, experiential research outside a college classroom. Engaging in research as an undergraduate can lead to successful and rewarding careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). Being successful in an undergraduate research experience benefits from the self-awareness and planning, strategies and skills that Success in Navigating your Student Research Experience can help you build and develop. The first part of this book describes strategies and processes for finding, applying, and preparing for an undergraduate research experience that matches your own needs and interests. These strategies are useful for any student, but are particularly helpful for individuals who have been minoritized in STEMM or are the first in their family to attend college. The central part of the book presents the undergraduate research experience as a “three-legged stool” whose legs—research, education, and community—each have unique values in advancing your path in STEMM. The last part of the book illustrates the many options for continuing and expanding your path in research. These range from communicating results to colleagues to moving forward with graduate studies and careers in STEMM, in which you can become a mentor to the next generation of students.This book is the student’s companion to the authors’ book for mentors, “Success in Mentoring your Student Researchers: Moving STEMM Forward.”