Sample Statistics. 1  x refers to a sample mean. 2  s refers to the standard deviation of a sample. 3  s2 refers to the variance of a sample. 4  p refers to the proportion of sample elements that have a particular attribute. 5  q refers to the proportion of sample elements that do not have a particular attribute, so q = 1 - p.
Ecology/Environmental Response. The most basic interest of ecologists is how organisms interact with their environment. Inanimate objects do not normally interactâthey are simply acted upon by forces in the environment. Organisms, however, cannot be totally passive within a chain of events and still sustain life.
Let us say, the environment is the creation of many forces and almost all components of the environment are partially the result of earthquakes. An earthquake is the instantaneous release of energy and therefore, from our point of view, it is dangerous.