By Design

Published by Center for Conservation Biology at January 11, 2024

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Annual Report

By: Bryan Watts
1/2/2024

There is something inspirational about walking through a Frank Lloyd Wright house or inspecting a George Nakashima bench. The organic lines and wholeness of design instill an intended sense of peace. Both masters designed from nature and believed that design was developed from within outwards seeking harmony between the materials, place and user. Each believed that design emanated from an intimate understanding of the material.

A clapper rail swims across a tidepool in a coastal marsh. Clappers are on the front line of sea-level rise. The Center has monitored them within a series of reference marshes for many years. So far, clappers have held up better than many other marsh species. Photo by Bryan Watts.

Great research design flows from the interdependence of statistical design and natural design. Statistical design allows us to interpret results with a known degree of confidence. This confidence is what gives science the footing to move forward. However, in order to effectively work with a species, we must know them as ourselves, understand the place where they live and understand the constraints under which they evolved. Working with a species without appropriate statistical design leaves us with little confidence in the outcome and applying statistical design without understanding the species may lead to meaningless results.

A patch of tidal marsh on the Mataponi River. Isolated marsh patches represent great statistical units for studying bird communities. Marsh patches may be categorized according to factors such as size or salinity in order to reveal factors that influence distribution. Photo by Bryan Watts.

Adult bald eagle caught in a rocket net on Aberdeen Proving Ground. The installation had chronic eagle mortality caused by collisions with overhead lines. To investigate the underlying causes of variation in strike frequency along the electrical system, we used transmitters to track eagles and evaluated the correspondence between mortality rate and the line crossing rate. Our stated criterion for a positive relationship was a significant correspondence between mortality rate and crossing rate. A highly significant relationship allowed us to use movement patterns to identify additional problem lines for removal. Photo by Bart Roberts.

Beyond the statistics and natural history is the underlying purpose that a design is intended to fulfill. Wright was famous for stating “form follows function,” meaning that design begins with an intended purpose. Within conservation biology, we practice a form of backward design. We begin with a clearly defined objective and work backward using knowledge of natural history to inform statistical design and develop a methodology in service of the design. Within this annual report I highlight the relationship between natural design, statistical design and the process of backward design.