A Traditional and a Less-Invasive Robust Design: Choices in Optimizing Effort Allocation for Seabird Population Studies

Converse, Sarah J.; Kendall, William L.; Doherty, Paul F.; Naughton, Maura B.; Hines, James E.

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-78151-8_33

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Which one produces more efficient estimates of survival? Converse et al (2008) used simulations to address these meso-and micro-issue questions for our albatross study, and a similar approach could be used for other studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This implies that fewer marked individuals are tracked across future primary periods, potentially reducing precision in survival or state transition estimates. These competing benefits raise an issue of optimal allocation of sampling effort that is addressed for albatross studies in Converse et al (2008). Converse et al found that due to the higher field efficiency of tallying marked and unmarked birds, the LIRD performed comparably to the traditional robust design when a relatively small proportion of personnel time was devoted to the tally session vs. the initial marking and recapture session.…”

Section: Statistical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These tables also include the number of birds involved in each sweep and tally. Converse et al (2008) presented approximate numbers of various types of encounters that were accomplished per person hour of effort, to demonstrate the relative time efficiency of initial captures vs. reading bands vs. tallying marks. BFAL were more aggressive, and therefore took longer to process.…”

Section: Albatross Field Trialmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sampling design considerations for demographic studies: a case of colonial seabirds

Kendall¹,

Converse

Doherty

et al. 2009

Ecological Applications

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For the purposes of making many informed conservation decisions, the main goal for data collection is to assess population status and allow prediction of the consequences of candidate management actions. Reducing the bias and variance of estimates of population parameters reduces uncertainty in population status and projections, thereby reducing the overall uncertainty under which a population manager must make a decision. In capture-recapture studies, imperfect detection of individuals, unobservable life-history states, local movement outside study areas, and tag loss can cause bias or precision problems with estimates of population parameters. Furthermore, excessive disturbance to individuals during capture-recapture sampling may be of concern because disturbance may have demographic consequences. We address these problems using as an example a monitoring program for Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) and Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) nesting populations in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. To mitigate these estimation problems, we describe a synergistic combination of sampling design and modeling approaches. Solutions include multiple capture periods per season and multistate, robust design statistical models, dead recoveries and incidental observations, telemetry and data loggers, buffer areas around study plots to neutralize the effect of local movements outside study plots, and double banding and statistical models that account for band loss. We also present a variation on the robust capture-recapture design and a corresponding statistical model that minimizes disturbance to individuals. For the albatross case study, this less invasive robust design was more time efficient and, when used in combination with a traditional robust design, reduced the standard error of detection probability by 14% with only two hours of additional effort in the field. These field techniques and associated modeling approaches are applicable to studies of most taxa being marked and in some cases have individually been applied to studies of birds, fish, herpetofauna, and mammals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Statistical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Albatross Field Trialmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sampling design considerations for demographic studies: a case of colonial seabirds

Kendall¹,

Converse

Doherty

et al. 2009

Ecological Applications

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“…Many models with TE have been developed (Arnason, 1973;Brownie et al, 1993;Kendall and Bjorkland, 2001;Lebreton and Pradel, 2002;Kendall and Nichols, 2002;Fujiwara and Caswell, 2002;Kendall, 2004;Schaub et al, 2004;Pradel, 2005;Bailey, Kendall and Church, 2009;Converse et al, 2009;Hunter and Caswell, 2009;Kendall, 2009;Bailey, Converse and Kendall, 2010). Most TE models require the use of Pollock's robust sampling design (Pollock, 1982) in which several secondary samples are taken during each primary sample (e.g., each year), or another specialized study design such as the robust gateway design (Bailey et al, 2004;Church et al, 2007;de Lisle and Grayson, 2011), or the less-invasive robust design (Converse et al, 2009). The focus of existing TE studies is usually on (annual) probabilities of survival and of transition between sites or between breeding and non-breeding states.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Breeding Return Times and Abundance in Capture–Recapture Models

2013

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For many long-lived animal species, individuals do not breed every year, and are often not accessible during non-breeding periods. Individuals exhibit site fidelity if they return to the same breeding colony or spawning ground when they breed. If capture and recapture is only possible at the breeding site, temporary emigration models are used to allow for only a subset of the animals being present in any given year. Most temporary emigration models require the use of the robust sampling design, and their focus is usually on probabilities of annual survival and of transition between breeding and non-breeding states. We use lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) data from a closed population where only a simple (one sample per year) sampling scheme is possible, and we also wish to estimate abundance as well as sex-specific survival and breeding return time probabilities. By adding return time parameters to the Schwarz-Arnason version of the Jolly-Seber model, we have developed a new likelihood-based model which yields plausible estimates of abundance, survival, transition and return time parameters. An important new finding from investigation of the model is the overestimation of abundance if a Jolly-Seber model is used when Markovian temporary emigration is present.

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“…Our results indicate that detailed knowledge about the population biology of the species under study can be extremely useful for optimizing sampling design (see also Kendall et al 2009;Converse et al 2009). …”

Section: Implications Of Within-season Variation In Detection Probabimentioning

confidence: 84%

Heterogeneity in detection probability along the breeding season in Black-legged Kittiwakes: implications for sampling design

et al. 2010

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In wild animal population studies, capture heterogeneity is likely to be prevalent and can reduce the accuracy of vital rate estimates. Here, we test how individual detection probabilities vary through the breeding season in a population of a cliff-nesting colonial seabird, the Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Specifically, we expected detection probability to be affected by changes in brooding behavior and nest attendance associated with the breeding phenology and the local breeding performance of individuals. As predicted, we found that strong heterogeneities in detection probability can occur in relation to the breeding performance of individuals, the breeding performance of their neighbors, and the timing of surveys. Detection probability is highest and most homogeneous at the beginning of the breeding season. Later in the season, it is lower and can vary dramatically among groups of breeding individuals. A simulation approach was used to assess the implications of these results for the performance (bias and precision) of different study designs. Clearly, investing sampling effort early in the season is an efficient way to improve the accuracy of parameter estimates in this species. Our findings stress the importance of establishing study designs that take into account the population and behavioral ecology of the focal species.

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A Traditional and a Less-Invasive Robust Design: Choices in Optimizing Effort Allocation for Seabird Population Studies

Cited by 10 publications

References 5 publications

Sampling design considerations for demographic studies: a case of colonial seabirds

Sampling design considerations for demographic studies: a case of colonial seabirds

Breeding Return Times and Abundance in Capture–Recapture Models

Heterogeneity in detection probability along the breeding season in Black-legged Kittiwakes: implications for sampling design

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