Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test

4-Bio9, Group 10
Casipit, Legarda, Yap
Introduction
Non-native species
- Those that are not naturally present in an ecosystem
- Humans as agents of dispersal
- Invasive if it negatively impacts the ecosystem

Competition
- A relationship that negatively affects the populations of two or more
species
- Competing for resources
Problem Set-E
A species of non-native fish was accidentally introduced into a lake where an
endangered native fish species is found. Although the introduced species does not
attack or eat the native species, it does have the same dietary preference as the
native fish. Scientists, afraid that the introduced species may be indirectly out-
competing the native species for food, decided to do a short-term experiment.
They collected 10 samples of the native fish species, weighed each one, and tagged
each fish with its own unique ID number (1-10). After three months, the scientists
started trapping all the fish in the lake until they located the exact same species
that they weighed three months earlier. They took the new weight of the fish and
compared these with their weights three months before. The scientists decided to
use a nonparametric test to analyze their data.
Weights of the native fish before and after the experiment
Introduction
Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test

- A non-parametric test for assessing if there difference

between two related samples
Hypothesis
Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference in the weight of the native
fish within the span of three months.

Alternative Hypothesis: There is a significant difference in the weight of the

native fish within the span of three months.
Difference scores and their corresponding ranks
Sum of the positive
ranks= 8

Absolute value of the

sum of the negative
ranks= 47

W= test statistic (the

sum with the smaller
value)

W= 8
Critical values for Wilcoxon Test

n= 10

Two-tailed test

α=0.05

Critical value for W= 8

Results - Graphs
Discussion - Wilcoxon Signed-Rank vs Paired t-test
Wilcoxon signed-rank test Paired t-test

Similarities Tests of difference

Two samples compared

Data in samples related

Differences Nonparametric Parametric

Scale or ordinal data Scale data only

Inference
If W ≤ W0.05 , reject the null hypothesis

If W > W0.05 , accept the null hypothesis

Since the computed test statistic is equal to the critical value, the null
hypothesis is rejected.

W = W0.05 = 8

There is a significant difference in the weight of the native fish within the
span of three months.
Conclusion
The non-native fish introduced into the lake did not outcompete the
endangered native fish.
References
Corder, G. W. & Foreman, D. I. (2014). Nonparametric statistics: A Step-by-step approach (2nd
ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Gibbons, J. D., & Chakraborti, S. (2011). Nonparametric statistical inference (5th ed.). Boca Raton, FL: Chapman &
Hall/CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group.

Hawkins, D. (2009). Biomeasurement: A student’s guide to biological statistics (2nd ed.). NY: Oxford University Press.

Lamorte, W. W. (2017). Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. Nonparametric Tests. Retrieved from
http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/BS/BS704_Nonparametric/BS704_Nonparametric6.html

Smith, T. & Smith, R. (2012). Elements of ecology (8th ed.). USA: Pearson Education Inc.

The Pennsylvania State University: PennState Eberly College of Science. (n.d.). The Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test for a
Median. Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics. Retrieved from
https://onlinecourses.science.psu.edu/stat414/node/319