Study Design and Logistics - Wetland Techniques - page 2

methodology, study design, statistical approach, and conclusions without regard to
how they would have conducted the study. Doing so will facilitate the scientific
process.

1.1 Introduction

Unfortunately, the history of wetland science is relatively brief. In the United
States, most scientific effort prior to the early 1970s was devoted to justifying
draining and filling of wetlands. Information from such study results contributed to
the greater than 50 % decline of wetlands in the conterminous United States since
European settlement (Lewis 2001 ; Dahl 2011 ). It is unlikely that any other ecosys-
tem has suffered such organized willful efforts of alteration, destruction, and
obliteration based primarily on misinformation and spurious “facts” than wetlands.
Slowly during the past century, acceptance of wetlands as critical components of the
natural world has resulted in a multitude of conservation and education efforts to
protect wetland ecosystems. One of the rare historical exceptions was the creation of
National Wildlife Refuges to protect wetlands vital to migratory birds, primarily
waterfowl because of their value to hunters. Since the passage of the Clean Water
Act and other legislation since the early 1970s, the ecological values of wetlands
have increasingly been recognized by conservation organizations, policy makers,
governmental agencies, and society at large. The foundation for these changes in
societal values and policies from those factions advocating wetland destruction to a
predominance of activities proposed for restoration, enhancement, and protection of
wetlands is reliable knowledge of the ecological structure, function, and provision of
services by these systems.
Reliable knowledge is the result of accumulation of credible results from
wetland investigations conducted using a logical framework - study design
(Table 1.1 ). Study design involves more than experimental design , which can be
defined as a plan for assigning experimental conditions to subjects and the statistical
analyses appropriate for the plan (Kirk 1982 ). Study design is also more than
statistics , which is a body of knowledge that allows one to make sense of collected
data and generalize results from a sample to a population. Both experimental design
and statistics are beyond the scope of this chapter; there are a considerable number
of available texts on both subjects (e.g., Quinn and Keough 2002 ; Box et al. 2005 ;
Montgomery 2012 ). Proper use of study design allows for the development of
research goals, objectives, and hypotheses based on observations, previous studies,
and ecological theory. Study design includes a declaration of variables to be
measured, techniques to be applied, and approaches to analyses of collected data.
Furthermore, use of the appropriate study design allows for inference beyond the
immediate subjects being studied. Most importantly, this framework allows for
acceptance of study results into the overall knowledge of wetland ecosystems for
use in conservation efforts, generation of additional research questions, and accu-
mulation of defensible reliable knowledge regarding wetland ecosystems.