Biostatistics

Science programme: Optimising fruit & crop growth

Biostatistics in a general sense is application of statistics to biological sciences. HortResearch biostatisticians provide statistical expertise to many projects ranging across postharvest, sensory evaluation, pest and disease management, biosecurity and plant breeding to genetic mapping.

In more recent years, with several genomics initiatives to map important characteristics of fruit crops, the application of statistical methods in genomics is becoming increasingly important.

The biostatistics team comprises five applied statisticians with collective experience in a wide range of horticultural research data.

What we do

Biostatisticians can add value and innovation to science projects through:

• Statistically sound study designs: experimental and sampling designs, power and sample size calculations
• Advice on data management and quality issues
• Appropriate statistical analyses and interpretation of results
• Effective reporting formats through tables, graphs etc
• Advanced statistical modelling and development of predictive models
• Simulation studies
• In-house training of staff in graphical and statistical packages.

How we work

There are several ways of interacting with HortResearch biostatisticians to obtain the necessary statistical advice and input to science projects. These can range from a brief consultancy of a few hours, up to long-term collaborative projects.

A consultancy can involve:

• Initial discussion with biostatistician on design of an experiment
• Basic questions on statistics
• How to use software to run a simple analysis or construct a graph.

Project support

These are generally one-off projects requiring a higher level of statistical input in terms of design, data analysis, interpretation of results and reporting. A biostatistician often becomes a co-author of a client report or publication with time usually budgeted in advance. The team is involved in several such projects with major commercial clients such as ZESPRI.

Collaborative Projects

These are programmes that can run for several years. They are often government funded and may involve development of new statistical methods or extension of existing methods. The biostatistician plays a key role in these projects including joint publication of research findings.

Statistical software expertise

• SAS GenStat  R S-Plus Minitab 

External Collaborators

• Auckland University
• Massey University
• NZ Forest Research Institute
• AgResearch