Contact details +64 (09) 414 0800 ext. 43609

Distinguished Professor Marti Anderson

Chair in Statistics

New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study

After obtaining a BA in Biology from Occidental (a liberal arts college in Los Angeles CA, USA), I pursued graduate study at the University of Sydney in Australia, where I did a Graduate Diploma in Zoology (first class honours) and a PhD in Marine Ecology with Professor Tony Underwood (achieving the Jabez-King-Heydon prize for the most meritorious PhD thesis), followed by a Masters in Mathematical Statistics (with merit) with Professor John Robinson. After a post-doctoral fellowship with the Institute of Marine Ecology in Sydney, I then took up an academic position as Lecturer in Statistics at the University of Auckland in 1999. I came to Massey University to take up a Professorial Chair in Statistics at the Albany campus in 2009. I joined the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study (NZIAS) in 2011.

Roles and Responsibilities

Deputy Head of Institute, INMS

Head of Statistics, INMS

Co-director of the Coastal-Marine Research Group (C-MRG)

I am an ecological statistician. My work spans several disciplines, from basic biology and ecology through to mathematical and applied statistics. My core research is in community ecology, biodiversity, multivariate analysis, experimental design and resampling methods. My focus is to develop novel statistical methods for the analysis of ecological communities, including appropriate sampling algorithms and models for making valid statistical inferences in these high-dimensional multi-factorial systems.

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Professional

Contact details

Ph: +64 9 414 0800 x41055
Location: 3.16, IIMS
Campus: Albany

Qualifications

B.A., Biology (magna cum laud) - Occidental College, Los Angeles, USA (1991)
Grad.Dip.Sci., Zoology (1st class Honours) - University of Sydney, Australia (1992)
Ph.D., Marine Ecology (prize for the best PhD thes - University of Sydney, Australia (1997)
M.A., Mathematical Statistics (with merit) - University of Sydney, Australia (1999)

Research Expertise

Research Interests

I am an ecological statistician. My work spans several disciplines, from basic biology and ecology through to mathematical and applied statistics. My core research is in the areas of community ecology, biodiversity, multivariate analysis, experimental design and resampling methods. My focus is to develop novel multivariate statistical methods for the analysis of ecological communities, including appropriate underlying sampling algorithms and models for making valid statistical inferences in these high-dimensional multi-factorial systems.

Thematics

Resource Development and Management

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Applied Statistics (010401):
Biological Sciences (060000): Community Ecology (060202): Ecology (060200):
Mathematical Sciences (010000): Statistics (010400)

Research Projects

Summary of Research Projects

Position	Current	Completed
Not Specified	0	1
Project Leader	3	13

Current Projects

Project Title: Synergising ecology and evolution: dicovering patterns of functional and phylogenetic diversity of New Zealand's name marine fishes versus depth

Date Range: 2016 - 2019

Funding Body: Royal Society of New Zealand

Project Team:

Distprof Marti Anderson - Project Leader

Completed Projects

Project Title: New robust solutions to the multivariate Behrens-Fisher problem

Imagine sampling two communities of butterflies and asking: do they differ? Testing for a (mean) difference is not possible if one community is more variable than the other. For a single measurement (e.g. community diversity), this is `Behrens-Fisher¿, one of the oldest problems in statistics. We will combine bootstrapping methods with distance-based tests, avoiding classical assumptions, to yield novel robust solutions to the multivariate (multi-species) Behrens-Fisher problem. This work will generate new possibilities for simultaneous inferences on means and variances in ecology. More broadly, it will crack current barriers to analysing any multivariate dataset where classical approaches fail.

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Date Range: 2011 - 2015

Funding Body: Marsden Fund - Full

Project Team:

Distprof Marti Anderson - Project Leader

Research Outputs

Journal

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Yıldırım, Y., Anderson, MJ., Hansson, B., Patel, S., Millar, CD., & Rainey, PB. (2018). Genetic structure of the grey side-gilled sea slug (Pleurobranchaea maculata) in coastal waters of New Zealand. PLoS ONE. 13(8)
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Pawley, MDM., & Anderson, MJ. (2018). Spatial patterns of distribution and relative abundance of coastal shark species in the Galapagos Marine Reserve. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 593, 73-95
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M., Pawley, M., Smith, A.

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(2018). Understanding human attitudes towards sharks to promote sustainable coexistence. Marine Policy. 91, 122-128
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M., Pawley, M., Smith, A.

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(2018). Shrinkage estimates of covariance matrices to improve the performance of multivariate cumulative sum control charts. Computers and Industrial Engineering. 117, 207-216
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M., Pawley, M., Smith, A.

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(2017). Effects of latitude and depth on the beta diversity of New Zealand fish communities. Scientific Reports. 7(1)
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Pawley, MDM., Fischer, C., & Salinas-De-León, P. (2017). Residency and movement patterns of an apex predatory shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) at the Galapagos Marine Reserve. PLoS ONE. 12(8)
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M., Pawley, M., Smith, A.

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Smith, ANH., Anderson, MJ., & Pawley, MDM. (2017). Could ecologists be more random? Straightforward alternatives to haphazard spatial sampling. Ecography. 40(11), 1251-1255
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M., Pawley, M., Smith, A.

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Anderson, MJ., Walsh, DCI., Robert Clarke, K., Gorley, RN., & Guerra-Castro, E. (2017). Some solutions to the multivariate Behrens–Fisher problem for dissimilarity-based analyses. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Statistics. 59(1), 57-79
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2017). Environmental characteristics drive variation in Amazonian understorey bird assemblages. PLoS ONE. 12(2)
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2016). Marine reserves indirectly affect fine-scale habitat associations, but not overall densities, of small benthic fishes. Ecology and Evolution. 6(18), 6648-6661
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M., Smith, A.

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Grange, ZL., Gartrell, BD., Biggs, PJ., Nelson, NJ., Anderson, M., & French, NP. (2016). Microbial Genomics of a Host-Associated Commensal Bacterium in Fragmented Populations of Endangered Takahe. Microbial Ecology. 71(4), 1020-1029
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M., Biggs, P., French, N., Gartrell, B.

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(2015). The role of a dominant predator in shaping biodiversity over space and time in a marine ecosystem. Journal of Animal Ecology. 84(5), 1242-1252
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2015). Measures of precision for dissimilarity-based multivariate analysis of ecological communities. Ecology Letters. 18(1), 66-73
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Ellingsen, KE., Anderson, MJ., Shackell, NL., Tveraa, T., Yoccoz, NG., & Frank, KT. (2015). The role of a dominant predator in shaping biodiversity over space and time in a marine ecosystem. Journal of Animal Ecology.
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Noren, M., & Fernholm, B. (2015). Review and phylogeny of the New Zealand hagfishes (Myxiniformes: Myxinidae), with a description of three new species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 174(2), 363-393
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Anderson, MJ., & Santana-Garcon, J. (2015). Measures of precision for dissimilarity-based multivariate analysis of ecological communities. Ecology Letters. 18(1), 66-73
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Smith, HL., Anderson, MJ., Gillanders, BM., & Connell, SD. (2014). Longitudinal variation and effects of habitat on biodiversity of Australasian temperate reef fishes. Journal of Biogeography. 41(11), 2128-2139
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2014). Effects of marine reserves in the context of spatial and temporal variation: An analysis using Bayesian zero-inflated mixed models. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 499, 203-216
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M., Smith, A.

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(2014). Species-accumulation curves and taxonomic surrogates: An integrated approach for estimation of regional species richness. Diversity and Distributions. 20(3), 356-368
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2013). PERMANOVA, ANOSIM, and the Mantel test in the face of heterogeneous dispersions: What null hypothesis are you testing?. Ecological Monographs. 83(4), 557-574
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M., Walsh, D.

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Paul, WL., & Anderson, MJ. (2013). Causal modeling with multivariate species data. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 448, 72-84
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2013). Hagfish feeding habits along a depth gradient inferred from stable isotopes. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 485, 223-234
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Anderson, MJ., Tolimieri, N., & Millar, RB. (2013). Beta Diversity of Demersal Fish Assemblages in the North-Eastern Pacific: Interactions of Latitude and Depth. PLoS ONE. 8(3)
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Cornell, HV., Davies, KF., Harrison, SP., Hurlbert, AH., Inouye, BD., Kraft, NJB., . . . Vellend, M. (2013). Stochastic and deterministic drivers of spatial and temporal turnover in breeding bird communities. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 22(2), 202-212
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2012). Incorporating the intraspecific occupancy-abundance relationship into zero-inflated models. Ecology. 93(12), 2526-2532
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M., Smith, A.

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Martin, A., Mcminn, A., Davy, SK., Anderson, MJ., Miller, HC., Hall, JA., . . . Ryan, KG. (2012). Preliminary evidence for the microbial loop in Antarctic sea ice using microcosm simulations. Antarctic Science. 24(6), 547-553
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2012). Diversity and Composition of Demersal Fishes along a Depth Gradient Assessed by Baited Remote Underwater Stereo-Video. PLoS ONE. 7(10)
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2012). The effects of translocation-induced isolation and fragmentation on the cultural evolution of bird song. Ecology Letters. 15(8), 778-785
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M., Brunton, D.

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Cornell, HV., Vellend, M., Chase, JM., Comita, LS., Davies, KF., Freestone, AL., . . . Swenson, NG. (2012). Response to comments on "disentangling the drivers of β diversity along latitudinal and elevational gradients". Science. 335(6076)
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2012). Biogeographical patterns of algal communities in the Mediterranean Sea: Cystoseira crinita-dominated assemblages as a case study. Journal of Biogeography. 39(1), 140-152
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2011). Hagfish predatory behaviour and slime defence mechanism. Scientific Reports. 1
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Freestone, AL., Inouye, BD., Harrison, SP., & Myers, JA. (2011). Disentangling the drivers of β diversity along latitudinal and elevational gradients. Science. 333(6050), 1755-1758
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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282

Millar, RB., Anderson, MJ., & Tolimieri, N. (2011). Much ado about nothings: Using zero similarity points in distance-decay curves. Ecology. 92(9), 1717-1722
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Sales, M., Ballesteros, E., Anderson, MJ., Iveša, L., & Cardona, E. (2011). Biogeographical patterns of algal communities in the Mediterranean Sea: Cystoseiracrinita-dominated assemblages as a case study. Journal of Biogeography.
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

(2011). Increasing variation in taxonomic distinctness reveals clusters of specialists in the deep sea. Ecography. 34(2), 306-317
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2011). Erratum: Assessing the nature of the combined effects of copper and zinc on estuarine infaunal communities (Environmental Pollution (2011) 159 (116-124)). Environmental Pollution. 159(3), 836
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2011). Bioaccumulation of copper, lead and zinc by the bivalves Macomona liliana and Austrovenus stutchburyi. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 396(2), 244-252
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2011). Assessing the nature of the combined effects of copper and zinc on estuarine infaunal communities. Environmental Pollution. 159(1), 116-124
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Langlois, T., Anderson, M., Brock, M., & Murman, G. (2011). Importance of rock lobster size-structure for trophic interactions: Choice of soft-sediment bivalve prey. Marine Biology. 149(3), 447-454
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2011). Response of sea-ice microbial communities to environmental disturbance: An in situ transplant experiment in the Antarctic. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 424, 25-37
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Freestone, AL., Sanders, NJ., Cornell, HV., Comita, LS., Davies, KF., Harrison, SP., . . . Swenson, NG. (2011). Navigating the multiple meanings of β diversity: A roadmap for the practicing ecologist. Ecology Letters. 14(1), 19-28
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2010). Taxonomic distinctness of demersal fishes of the california current: Moving beyond simple measures of diversity for marine ecosystem-based management. PLoS ONE. 5(5)
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Anderson, M. (2010). Distance-based tests for homogeneity of multivariate dispersions. Biometrics. 86, 245-253
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2010). Individual and combined effects of heavy metals on estuarine infaunal communities. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 402, 123-136
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2010). Species, gender, and identity: Cracking petrels' sociochemical code. Chemical Senses. 35(4), 309-321
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Hewitt, J., Anderson, M., Hickey, C., Kelly, S., & Thrush, S. (2009). Enhancing the ecological significance of sediment contamination guidelines through integration with community analysis. Environmental Science & Technology. 43, 2118-2123
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Terlizzi, A., Anderson, M., Bevilacqua, S., Fraschetti, S., Wlodarska Kowalczuk, M., & Ellingsen, K. (2009). Beta diversity and taxonomic sufficiency: Do higher-level taxa reflect heterogeneity in species composition. Diversity and Distributions. 15(3), 450-458
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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(2009). Effects of protection from fishing on the lengths of targeted and non-targeted fish species at the houtman abrolhos islands, western australia. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 384, 241-249
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Currie, DJ., Dunn, RR., Graves, GR., Green, JL., Grytnes, JA., Jiang, YH., . . . Willig, MR. (2009). Patterns and causes of species richness: A general simulation model for macroecology. Ecology Letters. 12(9), 873-886
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Cullen, L., Adams, M., Anderson, M., & Grierson, P. (2008). Analyses of δ13C and δ18O in tree rings of Callitris columellaris provide evidence of a change in stomatal control of photosynthesis in response to regional changes in climate. Tree Physiology. 28, 1525-1533
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Lear, G., Anderson, M., Smith, J., Boxen, K., & Lewis, G. (2008). Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the bacterial communities in stream epilithic biofilms. FEMS Microbiology Ecology. 65, 463-473
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Anderson, M. (2008). Animal-sediment relationships re-visited: Characterising species' distributions along an environmental gradient using canonical analysis and quantile regression splines. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 366(1-2), 16-27
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Wheldon, M., Anderson, M., & Johnson, B. (2007). Identifying treatment effects in multi-channel measurements in electroencephalographic studies: Multivariate permutation tests and multiple comparisons. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Statistics. 49(4), 397-413
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Atalah, J., Otto, S., Anderson, M., Costello, M., Lenz, M., & Wahl, M. (2007). Temporal variance of disturbance did not affect diversity and structure of a marine fouling community in north-eastern New Zealand. Marine Biology. 153(2), 199-211
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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McGill, B., Rampal, E., Gray, J., Alonso, D., Anderson, M., Benecha, H., . . . White, E. (2007). Species abundance distributions: Moving beyond single prediction theories to integration within an ecological framework. Ecology Letters. 10(10), 995-1015
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Watson, D., Harvey, E., Kendrick, G., Nardi, K., & Anderson, M. (2007). Protection from fishing alters the species composition of fish assemblages in a temperate-tropical transition zone. Marine Biology. 152(5), 1197-1206
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Terlizzi, A., Anderson, M., Fraschetti, S., & Benedetti Cecchi, L. (2007). Scales of spatial variation in Mediterranean subtidal sessile assemblages at different depths. Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS). 332, 25-39
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Ford, R., Anderson, M., & Kelly, S. (2007). Subtle and negligible effects of rainfall on estuarine infauna: Evidence from three years of event-driven sampling. Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS). 340, 17-27
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Atalah, J., Anderson, M., & Costello, M. (2007). Temporal variability and intensity of grazing: A mesocosm experiment. Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS). 341, 15-24
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Langlois, T., Anderson, M., Babcock, R., & Kato, S. (2006). Marine reserves demonstrate trophic interactions across habitats. Oecologia. 147(1), 134-140
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Langlois, T., Anderson, M., & Babcock, R. (2006). Inconsistent effects of reefs on different size classes of macrofauna in adjacent sand habitats. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 334(2), 269-282
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Anderson, M., Ellingsen, K., & McArdle, B. (2006). Multivariate dispersion as a measure of beta diversity. Ecology Letters. 9(6), 683-693
[Journal article]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Book

Anderson, M., Gorley, R., & Clarke, K.(2008). Permanova+ for primer: Guide to software and statistical methods. Plymouth, United Kingdom: Primer-E Ltd
[Authored Book]Authored by: Anderson, M.

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Conference

Smith, A., Acuña Marrero, D., Pawley, M., & Anderson, M. (2018, November). Challenges in Monitoring and Managing Large Marine Fishes: Lessons from the Galápagos Archipelago. Presented at Symposium on Science in Support of Archipelagic Management. Ala Moana Hotel, 410 Atkinson Dr, Honolulu, Hawaii HI 96814, USA.
[Conference Oral Presentation]Authored by: Anderson, M., Pawley, M., Smith, A.

Supervision and Teaching

Contact Supervisor

Summary of Doctoral Supervision

Position	Current	Completed
Supervisor	1	1
Co-supervisor	2	1

Current Doctoral Supervision

Supervisor of:

Lizzy Myers - Doctor of Philosophy
Functional biodiversity of New Zealand's marine fishes versus depth

Co-supervisor of:

Amir Bashir - Doctor of Philosophy
Sparse summaries of complex covariance structures
Nurudeen Adedayo Adegoke - Doctor of Philosophy
The regularization of techniques reliant on distance matrices

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Supervisor of:

2018 - David Acuna Marrero - Doctor of Philosophy
Spatial ecology and human perceptions toward sharks in the Galapagos marine reserve

Co-supervisor of:

2016 - Yeserin Yildirim - Doctor of Philosophy
Genetics Structure of Pleurobranchaea maculata in New Zealand

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Distinguished Professor Marti Anderson

Chair in Statistics

Professional

Contact details

Qualifications

Research Expertise

Research Interests

Thematics

Area of Expertise

Research Projects

Summary of Research Projects

Current Projects

Completed Projects

Research Outputs

Journal

Book

Conference

Supervision and Teaching

Summary of Doctoral Supervision

Current Doctoral Supervision

Completed Doctoral Supervision