Natural Resource Biometrics

Introduction

Welcome to Natural Resource Biometrics

This class is a general statistical analysis and sampling course for Natural Resource students. It will build on the information you learned in your basic statistics class, and focus on sampling as used in Natural Resources. Biometrics involves the collection, processing, analysis and presentation of information from a resource that you are specifically managing. Because of this, all topics in the course will fit into four specific topic areas.

• Sampling
• Data Processing
• Analysis
• Presentation

These topic areas will be mixed together through the semester and presented on an as needed basis. All topics built in this class are expected to be used thru the rest of the class, and in other Natural Resource classes. In the topics list, I will identify, which of these basic areas the topic in question belongs.

This class is taught using the Excel® spreadsheet program. Spreadsheets are one of the most common types of software used by people to process data. There are other specific types of software that provide more power. In this class, we will focus on spreadsheets because of their ubiquity in the work environment, which you will be entering on completion of your degree.

In the course materials you will be introduced to the basic concepts and the tools necessary to efficiently accomplish the task. As this is an undergraduate class there are many more details about each topic, that are beyond the scope of this class. It is my intent to provide a rich learning environment so in the webpages, I have provided references to further reading that can be used to further your learning.