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DESIGN OF FIELD EXPERIMENTS TO DETERMINE THE ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF PETROLEUM IN INTERTIDAL ECOSYSTEMS
Citation:
Moore, S. AND D. McLaughlin. DESIGN OF FIELD EXPERIMENTS TO DETERMINE THE ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF PETROLEUM IN INTERTIDAL ECOSYSTEMS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/7-78/231 (NTIS PB292581), 1978.
Description:
Is it possible to design field experiments that will yield ecologically and statistically significant information about how oil affects intertidal ecosystems. What classes of experimental design and technical approach are most likely to generate optimal information on these effects. In order to improve the usefulness of field experiments to prediction and assessment of impacts of oil spills on marine environments, this report addresses the foregoing questions as they apply to rocky intertidal habitats characteristic of the Gulf of Alaska. The report discusses problems of experimental design in the ecosystems and presents statistical approaches for dealing with the problems. Examples are provided using data on rocky shore habitats at Zaikof Bay, Alaska. The levels of variability exhibited by these data indicate that realistic experiments can be designed to study the effects of oil. Traditional experimental design methods of factor selection, randomization, blocking and performance evaluation are directly relevant to intertidal oil experiments.