Correcting for unequal catchability in sex ratio and population size estimates.

ABSTRACT: Wildlife populations often exhibit unequal catchability between subgroups such as males and females. This heterogeneity of capture probabilities can bias both population size and sex ratio estimates. Several authors have suggested that this problem can be overcome by treating males and females as separate populations and calculating a population estimate for each of them. However, this suggestion has received little testing, and many researchers do not implement it. Therefore, we used two simulations to test the utility of this method. One simulated a closed population, while the other simulated an open population and used the robust design to calculate population sizes. We tested both simulations with multiple levels of heterogeneity, and we used a third simulation to test several methods

SUBMITTER: McKnight DT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5574582 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature