Statistics Introduction for Ecologists in R
- Start Date: September 28, 2026
- End Date: October 13, 2026
- Time: See dates and schedule below
- City: Online via Zoom
- Instructor: Dr. Brendan Wilson
- Registration open. Course takes place over 5 mornings between Sept 28 - Oct 13
Course description
This course provides an introductory primer for statistical concepts and techniques. Learners will explore ecological data, assumptions about probability distributions, hypothesis testing, one and two sample tests, ANOVA, regression, and model building topics. Emphasis will be placed on integrating practical examples into course exercises.
The course will be taught using Excel and R software. Each day is broken into a morning and afternoon class block, each with a lecture component and a lab component. The course will be held online via Zoom, and recorded so students can review material (or catch the sessions if they miss a day.) Students gain access to all scripts, lecture slides and other course materials.
Course objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Understand the concept of data variability and how this is central to the use of statistics to help guide natural resource management decisions
- Manipulate datasets in different software programs enabling error checking and outlier identification
- Visualize data to understand patterns and structure
- Recognize different data types, scales, and distributions
- Identify the appropriate statistical test to use for a given situation
- Develop and use scripts to complete data exploration and analyze
Course schedule
This course takes place online over 5 mornings from 9am-12pm Pacific Standard Time:
- Mon Sept 28, 9am-noon
- Tue Sept 29, 9am-noon
- Mon Oct 5, 9am-noon
- Tue Oct 6, 9am-noon
- Tue Oct 13, 9am-noon
Who should take this course?
Field biologists, managers, consultants, and students wanting an applied refresher of the basic classical statistical methods using modern tools. To get the most out this course participates, ideally, will have completed a diploma or 2 years of post secondary study in science that included a single statistics course.
Preparation and what to bring
- Students will require their own computer with reliable internet connection and equip with video camera and a speaker/mic adequate enough to clearly communicate via the Zoom video conferencing platform.
- Your own (free) Zoom account. Info on system requirements for Zoom can be found here.
- Pre-reading: Douglas A, Roos D, Mancini F, Couto A, Lusseau AD. 2026. An Introduction to R.
- Please read and use chapter 1 to help find and install software and then try the exercises in at least chapter 2 and 3 if you have not used R before
- Software requirements: Students will need to have the latest version of R and RStudio installed on their computers. See web book noted above for help with this.
Our instructor & course supporters
Brendan Wilson is an instructor and research scientist in Selkirk College’s School of Environment & Geomatics and Selkirk Innovates, where he has taught since 2001.
Originally from the Bow Valley in Alberta, Brendan has had a life-long interest in subalpine and timberline forest communities. He completed a B.Sc. Hons. in Applied Environmental Biology at the University of Technology in Sydney, where he examined the effect of selective harvesting on understory plant communities in an Australian subalpine forest. He completed his PhD at the University of Alberta, studying regeneration dynamics of alpine larch.
Over the past 20 years Brendan and his students have worked on whitebark pine conservation, species at risk assessment, white pine blister rust monitoring, species distribution modelling, prescribed fire and forest fuel treatment work, and using remotely sensed imagery to aid with these projects.
Brendan currently teaches Ecosystem Management, Systems Ecology, Applied Research Methods, and Spatial Statistics.
Registration
*Member registration: $635
Non-member registration: $690
*Annual memberships fees can be paid via the registration form if needed, or via a separate member registration form here.
Note: Limited class size, register immediately to secure your spot. When registration fills you may request to be placed on the notification list should an extra seat open up in the course, and/or to be notified of the next time we offer this course. To join this list, please email Hailey: office@cmiae.org
