Welcome to the homepage of the Ecological Statistics and Applied Data Science Laboratory at Western University!

The lab is led by Dr. Simon Bonner, an Associate Professor in Environmetrics in the Department of Statistical and Actuarial Science. Before this,  Dr. Bonner worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Kentucky for four and a half years, held a post-doc in the Department of Statistics at the University of British Columbia for two years, and completed his PhD in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at Simon Fraser University.

Our work focuses on developing and helping researchers to implement novel statistical models and methods for analysing data primarily from ecology, but also from other fields of science including mass spectrometry. In particular, my research focuses on hierarchical models fit in a Bayesian framework via advanced Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling techniques. Our primary area of application has been the analysis of data from mark-recapture experiments that are crucial for monitoring populations of wild animals and my interest in this work is driven by my concerns about the impacts of humans on the natural environment. Students in the lab are involved in a variety of projects, both applied and theoretical in nature. Past projects have involved the analysis of data from whale sharks in Australia, snakes and salmanders in Kentucky, cliff swallows in Nebraska, and lizards on islands in the Spanish Mediterranean. It’s a shame we don’t get to visit all the field sites!

If you are interested in knowing more about the lab and our work then please browse through the tabs above or contact Dr. Bonner at sbonner6@uwo.ca.