Estimation of Parameters for Animal Populations

 

A Primer for the Rest of Us

 

by Larkin A. Powell and George A. Gale

 

This book is a simple introduction to the logic behind analyses and sampling design for mark-recapture and survey efforts.  With a focus on the early user and beginner, the book explains the complicated formulas and statistics that can be effectively used around the world in support of conservation efforts. 

 

Click on the links below to download the book chapters for free (PDF files) or download the entire book (11MB).  You may also order the entire book at Lulu, Amazon, Amazon UK, or Barnes and Noble as a bound copy, which we offer for the price of printing and distribution (currently approximately US$17.50, plus shipping).  

 

Front matter

 

Foreword by John Carroll

 

Preface

 

Section I – Background 

          1-Models                                                              

          2-Context and Inference               

          3-Maximum Likelihood Estimation                   

          4-AIC and Model Selection

          5-Variance and the Delta Method                 

          6-Linear Models    

          7- Introduction to Mark-recapture  

 

Section II – Mark-recapture

          8-Closed Populations                    

          9-Known Fate                                           

          10-Apparent Survival: Cormack-Jolly-Seber    

          11-Recovery Data                                                  

          12-Multi-state Models                                           

          13-The Robust Design                                          

 

Section III – Survey data

          14-Introduction to Surveys          

          15-Occupancy

          16-Double-observer                                            

          17-Removal Sampling                                         

          18-N-mixture          

          19-Distance Sampling                                             

 

Larkin Powell is Professor of Conservation Biology and Animal Ecology at the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. 

 

George Gale is Lecturer in the School of Bioresources and Technology at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Bangkok, Thailand.