Draft:Mark L. Taper
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Last edited by Citation bot (talk | contribs) 5 days ago. (Update) |
Mark L. Taper | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Co-editor of The Nature of Scientific Evidence |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ecology, statistical inference |
| Institutions | Montana State University |
Mark Louis Taper (also known as Mark L. Taper) is an American ecologist and statistician affiliated with the Department of Ecology at Montana State University. He is best known as co-editor of the 2004 University of Chicago Press volume The Nature of Scientific Evidence, which received independent reviews in major journals, and for methodological papers on density dependence and genetic analysis tools.[1][2]
Career
[edit]Taper is affiliated with the Department of Ecology at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana.[1][2]
Research
[edit]Quantitative ecology
[edit]Taper has contributed methods for analyzing population dynamics and genetic data. With Brian Dennis he developed approaches for estimating and testing density dependence in time-series observations of natural populations.[3] He co-authored work on an energetic definition of fitness and the evolution of body size with James H. Brown and Pablo A. Marquet.[4]
He has also contributed to genetic analysis tools used in ecology and conservation, including revisions to the CERVUS program for paternity assignment that improved handling of genotyping error[5] and the ML-Relate program for estimating relatedness.[6]
Evidential statistics
[edit]Taper co-edited (with Subhash R. Lele) the 2004 volume The Nature of Scientific Evidence: Statistical, Philosophical, and Empirical Considerations, published by the University of Chicago Press. The book examines the statistical foundations of scientific inference and the quantification of evidence.
Independent reviews of the volume appeared in several journals. Marc Mangel wrote in Science that it is “a rare find: a source that could be used in graduate seminars in statistics, philosophy, or biology.... It is brimming with ideas.... It deserves a read by everyone.”[7] Gerry Quinn, in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, described it as “a challenging, stimulating, and important book” that “should be read by all ecologists who interpret data as evidence for or against specific hypotheses.”[8] Further reviews were published in Biometrics[9] and Biodiversity and Conservation.[10]
Later papers develop related ideas under the heading of evidential statistics, addressing model identification, uncertainty, and strength of evidence.[11][12]
Selected publications
[edit]- Dennis, Brian; Taper, Mark L. (1994). "Density dependence in time series observations of natural populations: estimation and testing". Ecological Monographs. 64 (2): 205–224. doi:10.2307/2937096. JSTOR 2937096.
- Brown, James H.; Marquet, Pablo A.; Taper, Mark L. (1993). "Evolution of body size: consequences of an energetic definition of fitness". The American Naturalist. 142 (4): 573–584. Bibcode:1993ANat..142..573B. doi:10.1086/285558. PMID 19425961.
- Kalinowski, Steven T.; Taper, Mark L.; Marshall, Tristan C. (2007). "Revising how the computer program CERVUS accommodates genotyping error increases success in paternity assignment". Molecular Ecology. 16 (5): 1099–1106. Bibcode:2007MolEc..16.1099K. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03089.x. PMID 17305863.
- Taper, Mark L.; Lele, Subhash R., eds. (2004). The Nature of Scientific Evidence: Statistical, Philosophical, and Empirical Considerations. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-78957-6.
- Taper, Mark L.; Ponciano, José M. (2016). "Evidential statistics as a statistical modern synthesis to support 21st century science". Population Ecology. 58 (1): 9–29. Bibcode:2016PopEc..58....9T. doi:10.1007/s10144-015-0533-y.
References
[edit]- 1 2 "Mark L. Taper – Google Scholar". Google Scholar. Retrieved 3 August 2026.
- 1 2 "Mark L. Taper (Montana State University-Bozeman)". PhilPeople. Retrieved 3 August 2026.
- ↑ Dennis, Brian; Taper, Mark L. (1994). "Density dependence in time series observations of natural populations: estimation and testing". Ecological Monographs. 64 (2): 205–224. doi:10.2307/2937096. JSTOR 2937096.
- ↑ Brown, James H.; Marquet, Pablo A.; Taper, Mark L. (1993). "Evolution of body size: consequences of an energetic definition of fitness". The American Naturalist. 142 (4): 573–584. Bibcode:1993ANat..142..573B. doi:10.1086/285558. PMID 19425961.
- ↑ Kalinowski, Steven T.; Taper, Mark L.; Marshall, Tristan C. (2007). "Revising how the computer program CERVUS accommodates genotyping error increases success in paternity assignment". Molecular Ecology. 16 (5): 1099–1106. Bibcode:2007MolEc..16.1099K. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03089.x. PMID 17305863.
- ↑ Kalinowski, Steven T.; Wagner, Aaron P.; Taper, Mark L. (2006). "ml-relate: a computer program for maximum likelihood estimation of relatedness and relationship". Molecular Ecology Notes. 6 (2): 576–579. doi:10.1111/j.1471-8286.2006.01256.x.
- ↑ Mangel, Marc (26 November 2004). "Practice of Science: Weighing the Evidence". Science. doi:10.1126/science.1105395.
- ↑ Quinn, Gerry (2005). "It's all in the evidence". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 20 (4): 162. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2005.01.003. hdl:10261/45623. PMID 16701353.
- ↑ Karlsson, Andreas (2006). "The Nature of Scientific Evidence: Statistical, Philosophical and Empirical Considerations". Biometrics. 62 (3): 946–947. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0420.2006.00588_9.x.
- ↑ Cadotte, Marc W. (2007). "Mark L. Taper and Subhash R. Lele (eds): The Nature of Scientific Evidence". Biodiversity and Conservation. 16: 3239–3241. doi:10.1007/s10531-006-9046-5.
- ↑ Taper, Mark L.; Ponciano, José M. (2016). "Evidential statistics as a statistical modern synthesis to support 21st century science". Population Ecology. 58 (1): 9–29. Bibcode:2016PopEc..58....9T. doi:10.1007/s10144-015-0533-y.
- ↑ Taper, Mark L.; Lele, Subhash R.; Ponciano, José M.; Dennis, Brian; Jerde, Christopher L. (2021). "Assessing the Global and Local Uncertainty of Scientific Evidence in the Presence of Model Misspecification". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 9 679155. arXiv:1911.06421. Bibcode:2021FrEEv...979155T. doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.679155.
External links
[edit]Category:Living people Category:American ecologists Category:Montana State University faculty Category:American statisticians Category:21st-century American scientists