Working on these notes
Garden Spectrum. Flower colors in the garden do not appear to be randomly selected. There are sections that have many species with the same color flower, while in other garden sections, another color seems to predominate. Each section is not uniform, as there is some variety in the colors of the flowers. But there is a sense that flower color separates the garden are generally segregated into the different sections.
The national weather service has good annual records for the rainfall in your study area. These records go back nearly a century. The local people claim that the past five years have not had as much rainfall as usual. Are they right?
Roof beams are made of the tree trunks of XXX that are at least XXX tall. Tree growth has been estimated. The population of species XXX is growing at XXX% per year. How many trees should be growing in the nearby forest?
Knowing whether a year will be wetter or drier than normal is useful in deciding the types of crops to be planted. The only predictor is whether the year is likely to be a normal, strong or weak el nino, or strong or weak la nina year.
All the local farmers were asked how much XXX they produced and how this ranks on a qualitative scale of their own devising (e.g., bad, fair, OK, good and excellent). Actual yield records were kept for many years. How do yields relate to this perception scale?
XXX trees are about the same size but have quite different productivity. The crop on a small set of trees was first estimated for productivity on a XXX level scale. Then these trees were harvested to determine the actual crop. Develop a predictive relationship between the perception scale and the crop, then apply it to the rating of a sample of the trees to estimate the total crop.
XXX trees are early invaders of abandoned swidden agriculture fields. The goal is to determine whether the size of these trees can be used to estimate the fallow period of the abandoned fields. Some farmers can generally tell you when they abandoned some fields. Does the relationship work?
XXX crops were planted in swidden fields that were abandoned either XXX or XXX years ago. Is there a significant difference in the yields?
“Sacred forests have more species than farmers woodlots.” Is this true?
The land uses in the region have been divided into the following categories: XXX, XXX, XXX and XXX. A randomly placed grid covers a satellite image of the region and each grid point is scored. Two people score the same area. Are their scores equivalent? How does this change with different grid spacings?
Mature XXX trees produce XXX kg of fruit in an average year. The wood from a harvested mature tree can be sold for XXX. It takes XXX years for a tree to grow to maturity. Is it better to harvest fruit or trees?
The fields with these two varieties are easily distinguished in air photos. The valley is generally divided into the lowland (river) areas and the upland (mountain slope) areas. Are the plantings of the two varieties different in the two areas? Are the sizes of the fields that are planted in each variety different?
A national census has been taken every decade for more than a century. What is the trend in the population of the main urban city versus rural villages for the region?
Need Attention
Apple Color. Apples come in red and green varieties. A preference survey is given to children, young adults, and senior citizens. Gender is also recorded. Which factor, age or gender, best predicts whether a group likes a particular color of apple?
Color Marketing. A market survey estimates the proportion of red versus green apples. A separate survey of the population in the area has investigated the color preference for apples. Does the apple availability correspond to color preference?
Fine Floors. A lumber dealer suggests that you purchase an expensive product for a wood floor that you are installing. He argues that while his fine wood costs more initially, it will last longer than the cheaper alternative, making the cost of ownership less expensive in the long run. One of the trade offs, you realize, is that you'll have to withdraw money from your savings account to pay the additional cost.
Rough notes based on SEB 2008 talks
Urban ethnic markets (are these recorded in herbaria?)
Ethnomedicine
Distribution of ethnic groups by zip code (e.g., zip code maps)
proportion of ingredients
beverages
% of potted plants (what are good categories?)
weather analysis
Can you predict extinctions?
[dereplicate? define]
social network analysis [anthropac & ucnet]
Educara instead of Anthropac (on-line?)
Holling 1998 Ecol & Soc 2(2) Sci of Parts vs science of integration of parts
Urban forest tree inventory
flower collections
market surveys
rapid appraisal
bioassays
diversity index
rarefaction
food production process
annual number of accessions added to the herbarium is shown below. Is there a trend.
If ____ is the capacity, when will it be reached?
Potted trees have been placed in the lobby of the hotel. Teh height of the lobby is ___. The tree heights are recorded below. When will the trees hit the ceiling?
The statistical reporting service says that the local production of ___ is increasing at ___ % per year. How many years before the annual amount doubles?
A survey of 100 people was conducted by interviews asking the following question. ___. ___% said ___. What is the margin of error?
A person was taught to estimate whether fruit was within the standard established by the ___. The error rate for an acceptable inspector is ___%. The new inspector keeps some fruit that should be rejected and has an error rate of ___%. Is this acceptable?
park biodiversity: tree inventory of parks
A careful record has been made of the first day ___ flowers each year. The null hypothesis is that this has remained constant year after year.
A count of the obvious gender of purchacers of ___ has been made at two markets. Is the proportion the same in each market?
There are two comp[eting markets. They both sell ___. One advertises that there ___ are "bigger and better." You buy one __ each day from each market. You weigh each one when you get home and taste each, evaluating whether one or the other is better. You want to minimize the number of ___ you purchase. When could you have ended your study and what was the conclusion?
Two groups are taught to measure distance by counting paces and multiplying by a personal calibration factor. Each group is then tested and the error recorded. Was there a difference between the two groups?
An ethnic group generally reports that house plants "suck oxygen at night and are therefore unhealthy." This concept is not generally shared by another ethnic group in the same area. You are invited into people's homes as part of a large study and you incidentally note the presence or absence of house plants. Do their professed beliefs distinguish their use of houseplants?