Advanced Biodiversity Analysis I

This course focuses on understanding the concepts of science-based biodiversity metrics and demonstrates the application of advanced methods in deriving robust and data-backed metrics for populations and species. This course introduces students to the field of population ecology and the use of data in global, national, and regional policies responsible for the conservation of biodiversity. Students will learn how to use various statistical packages in program R to analyze biodiversity data for estimating metrics such as habitat occupancy, abundance and density trends through time while considering the effects of human actions. Species are the “currency” in most biodiversity-related policies and regulations. As such, students will also examine how species distributions can shift due to climate change and evaluate the use of species-level metrics, including extinction risk and genetic markers, for supporting sustainability and conservation goals. This course will provide students with a strong foundation of statistical models commonly used in biodiversity conservation and the use of such models for deriving metrics and indicators to support decision-making in terrestrial and marine environments.