A Primer of Ecological Statistics, Second Edition by Nicholas J. Gotelli and Aaron M. Ellison provides a foundational understanding of probability theory, experimental design, and parameter estimation essential for ecologists and environmental scientists. Published by Sinauer Associates, an imprint of Oxford University Press, this comprehensive text, with ISBN-10 1605350648 and ISBN-13 978-1605350646, was released on November 15, 2012. It is designed to be a stand-alone or supplementary text for upper-division undergraduate and graduate courses in ecological and environmental statistics, ecology, environmental science, environmental studies, or experimental design. It also serves as a valuable resource for environmental professionals who regularly use and interpret statistics.

The book is structured into four parts, beginning with the fundamentals of probability and statistical thinking in Part I. This section introduces the logic and language of probability, common statistical distributions in ecology, measures of central tendency and spread, P-values, hypothesis testing, statistical errors, and an introduction to frequentist, Bayesian, and Monte Carlo methods. Part II delves into the successful design and execution of field experiments and sampling studies, covering design strategies, a variety of experimental designs, and data transformations and management.

Part III focuses on specific analyses, presenting core statistical concepts such as regression, analysis of variance, categorical data analysis, and multivariate analysis. New to this edition, Part IV explores crucial topics in estimating ecological metrics, including the quantification of biological diversity and the estimation of occupancy, detection probability, and population sizes from marked and unmarked populations. The Primer is further enhanced by a comprehensive glossary, a mathematical appendix on matrix algebra, and extensively annotated tables and figures. Footnotes offer deeper insights into historical context, mathematical proofs, and current ecological literature.