Report Reveals Hidden Bias & Uncertainty in Habitat Models

Click on title above to read a (2005) Report by the Ecological Society of America, as reprinted on the USGSs' website, entitled "Quantile Regression Reveals Hidden Bias and Uncertainty in Habitat Models," ................, which finds, when compiling statistical models for animals and/or ecological land managment, ...

"...Any important factor that is not explicitly included as a parameter in a statistical model is implicitly included as a part of the error distribution. When those unmeasured factors interact with the measured factors, the error distribution will be heterogeneous with respect to the variable included in the model. This creates a form of hidden bias ..."

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Bloggers note: Blaming the horses for rangeland declimation without considering other factors such as CATTLE GRAZING and Off-Road Vehicle use is a perfect example of the "hidden bias" spoken of in this report.

See this excerpt at Report, pg. 2, para. 2, bottom left.