The Analysis of Biological Data

Michael Whitlock is an evolutionary biologist and population geneticist. He is a professor of zoology at the University of British Columbia, where he has taught statistics to biology students since 1995. Whitlock is known for his work on the spatial structure of biological populations, genetic drift, and the genetics of adaptation. He has worked with fungus beetles, rhinos, and fruit flies; mathematical theory; and statistical genetics. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also the former editor-in-chief of The American Naturalist. Dolph Schluter is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Zoology Department and Biodiversity Research Center at the University of British Columbia. He is known for his research on the ecology and evolution of Galapagos finches and threespine stickleback. He is a fellow of the Royal Societies of Canada and London and a foreign member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

PART 1 INTRODUCTION TO STATISTICS

1. Statistics and samples 1

INTERLEAF 1 Biology and the history of statistics 23

2. Displaying data 25

3. Describing data 65

4. Estimating with uncertainty 95

INTERLEAF 2 Pseudoreplication 115

5. Probability 117

6. Hypothesis testing 149

INTERLEAF 3 Why statistical significance is not the same

as biological importance 176

PART 2 PROPORTIONS AND FREQUENCIES

7. Analyzing proportions 179

INTERLEAF 4 Correlation does not require causation 201

8. Fitting probability models to frequency data 203

INTERLEAF 5 Making a plan 233

9. Contingency analysis: associations between

categorical variables 235

Review Problems 1 269

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PART 3 COMPARING NUMERICAL VALUES

10. The normal distribution 273

INTERLEAF 6 Controls in medical studies 301

11. Inference for a normal population 303

12. Comparing two means 327

INTERLEAF 7 Which test should I use? 366

13. Handling violations of assumptions 369

Review Problems 2 417

14. Designing experiments 423

INTERLEAF 8 Data dredging 456

15. Comparing means of more than two groups 459

INTERLEAF 9 Experimental and statistical mistakes 500

PART 4 REGRESSION AND CORRELATION

16. Correlation between numerical variables 503

INTERLEAF 10 Publication bias 535

17. Regression 539

INTERLEAF 11 Using species as data points 593

Review Problems 3 597

PART 5 MODERN STATISTICAL METHODS

18. Multiple explanatory variables 605

19. Computer-intensive methods 635

20. Likelihood 655

21. Meta-analysis: combining information from

multiple studies 681