Register      Login
Wildlife Research Wildlife Research Society
Ecology, management and conservation in natural and modified habitats
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > WR > WR07086
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 35(4)

Theory and application of mark–recapture and related techniques to aerial surveys of wildlife

Richard Barker
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Email:rbarker@maths.otago.ac.nz

Wildlife Research 35(4) 268-274 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR07086
Submitted: 4 July 2007  Accepted: 23 January 2008   Published: 27 June 2008

Abstract

The key difficulty in assessing animal numbers from the air is that not all animals are seen by the observers. Methods for estimating detection probabilities, or accounting for imperfect detection, are reviewed including double surveys, use of sightability models, mark–resight, and mark–recapture. The assumptions needed for each method are considered as well as issues concerning survey design. For closed-population mark–recapture modelling particular attention is given to multiple observer studies. An emphasis is that an assumption of complete independence in double-observer studies is rarely justifiable and that independent observers will generally only satisfy an assumption of conditional independence and not complete independence.


References

Agresti, A. (1994). Simple capture–recapture models permitting unequal catchability and variable sampling effort. Biometrics 50, 494–500.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | Borchers D. L., Buckland S. T., and Zucchini W. (2002). ‘Estimating Animal Abundance: Closed Populations.’ (Springer: London.)

Borchers, D. L. , Laake, J. L. , Southwell, C. , and Paxton, C. G. M. (2006). Accommodating unmodeled heterogeneity in double-observer distance sampling surveys. Biometrics 62, 372–378.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | Buckland S. T., Anderson D. R., Burnham K. P., and Laake J. L. (1993). ‘Distance Sampling: Estimating Abundance of Biological Populations.’ (Chapman and Hall: London.)

Burnham, K. P. (1981). Summarizing remarks: environmental influences. Studies in Avian Biology 6, 324–325.
Scheaffer R. L., Mendenhall W. I., and Ott R. L. (1996). ‘Elementary Survey Sampling.’ 5th edn. (Duxbury Press: Belmont, CA.)

Seber G. A. F. (1982). ‘Estimating Animal Abundance and Related Parameters.’ 2nd edn. (Charles Griffin and Co.: London.)

Skalski, J. R. , Millspaugh, J. J. , and Spencer, R. D. (2005). Population estimation and biases in paintball, mark–resight surveys of elk. Journal of Wildlife Management 69, 1043–1052.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Thompson S. K. (1992). ‘Sampling.’ (John Wiley and Sons: New York.)

Thompson, W. L. (2002). Towards reliable bird surveys: accounting for individuals present but not detected. The Auk 119, 18–25.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Williams B., Nichols J., and Conroy M. (2002). ‘Analysis and Management of Animal Populations.’ (Academic Press: San Diego, CA.)

Wittmer, H. U. , McLellan, B. N. , Seip, D. R. , Young, J. A. , Kinley, T. A. , Watts, G. S. , and Hamilton, D. (2005). Population dynamics of the endangered mountain ecotype of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in British Columbia, Canada. Canadian Journal of Zoology 83, 407–418.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |