As a graduate student in biometrics I witnessed a basic difference between biologists (such as I) and mathematicians (most of my biometrics cohorts). We biologists had difficulty comprehending and applying the intertwined absolutes of math. Mathematicians had difficulty in accepting and dealing with the loose conditionalities of biology. I got B's and C's in my math and statistics classes and I believe the mathematicians got similar grades in their biology and ecology courses.
Warren W. Aney Senior Wildlife Ecologist Tigard, OR -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of R Erickson Sent: Monday, 29 April, 2013 09:11 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] ECOLOG-L Digest - 25 Apr 2013 to 26 Apr 2013 (#2013-114) As somebody who just defended his PhD in Environmental Toxicology, I found Calculus (and mathematical literary) to be very helpful for graduate school. Directly, I use it for population modeling as part of my research. Indirectly, understanding Calculus (and other areas of math such as linear algebra) makes learning statistics much, much, much easier. That being said, it is possible to make it through a graduate program without Calculus. It largely depends what you want to do and what program you want to attend. See the recent Ecolog postings about E.O. Wilson's WSJ editorial for a larger discussion about the role of mathematics in ecology. Back to your original question, here are some perspectives that discuss the importance of Calculus in the ecology and closely related fields such as wildlife management: Check out Gary White's Aldo Leopold Memorial Award speech/essay from 2001 (the award is TWS's equivalent to ESA's MacArthur Award): Why take calculus? Rigor in wildlife management. Wildlife Society Bulletin 29:380-386. A pdf is available here: http://people.cst.cmich.edu/gehri1tm/BIO%20440/Summer%202010/Readings/White% 202001.pdf Also, Aaron Ellison and Brian Dennis wrote an article in 2010 where they talk about the need for additional mathematical literacy in ecology: Paths to statistical fluency for ecologists. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 8:362-370. A PDF is available here: http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~brian/reprints/Ellison_and_Dennis_Frontiers_ in_Ecology_and_Environment_2010.pdf As a closing thought, here is a quote from James Watson's recent book, Avoid Boring People: "Only by taking higher math courses would I develop sufficient comfort to work at the leading edge of my field, even if I never got near the leading edge of math. And so my B's in two genuinely tough math courses were worth far more in confidence capital than any A I would likely have received in a biology course, no matter how demanding. Though I would never use the full extent of analytical methods I had learned, the Poisson distribution analyses needed to do most phage experiments soon became satisfying instead of a source of crippling anxiety." On Sat, Apr 27, 2013 at 9:55 PM, Joseph McElligott <[email protected]> wrote: > How important is Calculus for an environmental studies/science or forestry > graduate degree? >
