My expertise in Ecology and Modeling allows me to support scientists, companies, students, managers, associations, and local authorities to solve their challenge and take informed decisions by relying on robust results.
Activities
- Rigorous statistical analyses at the cutting edge of scientific research
- Assessment of the impact, innovation and feasibility of scientific projects
- Assessment of the adequacy, rigor and feasibility of statistical studies
- Preparation of protocols of data collection
- Support in the construction of quantitative analyses
- Teaching, Seminar, Workshops
Expertise
- General frequentist and Bayesian statistical analyses
- Population Ecology & Evolutionary Ecology
- Study Design: experimental and field protocol
- Population and community dynamics
- Demographics, Survival analyses
- Abundance and distribution of populations
- Impact of environmental and human changes
Quantify
Quantifying a population size or a species distribution requires meticulous statistical analysis. Even the best observer can miss some individuals or, on the contrary, count the same individual twice.
Population abundance and distribution are dynamic variables that must be estimated. I use rigorous statistical models to estimate these variables taking into account confounding factors. The number of variables that can be estimated and the precision of the associated parameters depend directly on the data available. The data must be collected following a well established protocol. Today, integrated population models allow me to combine different types of data in order to use all existing information and estimate the population parameters with higher precision.
Predict
A small change can sometimes cause large repercussions while a big change can produce no major consequence at the population level. Predict therefore requires taking into account the direct and indirect impacts that can accumulate.
The modification of a habitat, a resource or a climatic factor can impact populations in different ways. It can impact one or several demographic parameters of different populations: survival, development, age of access to reproduction, probability to find a partner, reproductive success, emigration, immigration ...
To predict the impact of environmental changes on the future of populations, we need to understand how environmental changes influence each demographic parameter of a population. Then, we need to determine how these changes in demographic parameters will affect the dynamics of population abundance and distribution. A small change can sometimes cause big repercussions while a big change can produce no major consequence at the population level.
Using data on the past and present of populations, I predict the short and long term impact of environmental changes on population dynamics.
Decide
Determining the contours of a zone needing protection, the location of a new construction or ascertaining the number of animals that can be hunted or fished requires being fully informed of the consequences of these decisions.
I use quantitative and rigorous models capable of quantifying, predicting and comparing the impact of different construction, management or conservation scenarios on animal and plant populations. These analyses are essential to guide and support decision-making.
Few past projects
Floriane Plard 