James E. Diffendorfer Laura Lopez-Hoffman Darius J. Semmens Wayne E. Thogmartin Emily L. Weiser 2021 <p><span>A simulation-based power analysis can be used to estimate the sample sizes needed for a successful monitoring program, but requires technical expertise and sometimes extensive computing resources. We developed a web-based lookup app, called TrendPowerTool (</span><a class="linkBehavior" href="https://www.usgs.gov/apps/TrendPowerTool/" data-mce-href="https://www.usgs.gov/apps/TrendPowerTool/">https://www.usgs.gov/apps/TrendPowerTool/</a><span>), to provide guidance for ecological monitoring programs when resources are not available for a simulation-based power analysis. TrendPowerTool is implemented through the&nbsp;</span><i>shiny</i><span>&nbsp;package in R, but is accessible through a webpage without the need for users to install any software. By drawing on results of 1.4 million scenarios that we simulated on a supercomputer, TrendPowerTool quickly and easily provides an estimate of the statistical power to detect a population trend of a particular magnitude with a planned monitoring program, based on user-specified parameters for the monitoring design and population of interest. TrendPowerTool provides a user-friendly interface that retrieves results instantaneously, facilitating the important step of conducting a power analysis when designing monitoring programs.</span></p> application/pdf 10.1111/csp2.445 en Society for Conservation Biology TrendPowerTool: A lookup tool for estimating the statistical power of a monitoring program to detect population trends article