Reference no: EM132845784

1. In your first day as a new biologist on a large oak-pine savanna in Florida, your supervisor informs you that he wants to test the effects of prescribed fire and red-imported fire ants (RIFA) on time spent away from nests by Bachman's sparrow, a ground-nesting bird. He tells you that he wants to compare a spring prescribed fire treatment, a fall prescribed fire treatment, and a no-fire treatment. For RIFA, he wants to compare baiting of mounds to kill RIFA after consumption, drenching of mounds with toxic liquid, and a no-treatment control. You study the soil, landcover, and topographic maps of the area and learn that it is homogeneous in terms of these factors. RIFA mounds have been mapped across the entire area, and the distribution of these mounds is fairly uniform across the area. Your supervisor has sufficient funds to map sparrow territories, set up video cameras to monitor time away from nests, and put in RIFA and burn treatments for up to 3 dozen separate study units. He estimates that each study unit would contain roughly 10 mated pairs. Prior work has shown that mated pairs settle randomly across the area, probably due to the property's habitat homogeneity. He knows that you just graduated and took multiple statistics courses, so he asks you to design the study.

a. Identify the response variable(s) in this study. Is it quantitative or categorical? If more than one response variable exists, answer the question for each. If a response variable is categorical, specify the levels (categories). If a response variable is quantitative, specify whether it is continuous or integer valued.

b. Identify the explanatory variable(s). Is it quantitative or categorical? If more than one explanatory variable exists, answer the question for each. If an explanatory variable is categorical, specify the levels (categories). If an explanatory variable is quantitative, specify whether it is continuous or integer valued.

c. In words, state the null and alternative hypothesis(es) being tested in the study.

d. Provide a description of your study design, i.e., how will you go about laying out the study to test the hypothesis(es) in c? Assume that you have the technical know-how to map breeding pairs, assess nest success, implement prescribed fires, and treat RIFA mounds. If your study design is of a particular type (e.g., tabular design, ANOVA design, ANCOVA design, etc.), be sure to identify the type. provide specifics for that design.

e. How do you propose to analyze the data resulting from your study? Provide a detailed justification for your choice.