Incorporating individual heterogeneity into mark-recapture models

• Main Author: Ford, JH
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: hidden Marker model; individual heterogenity; mark re-capture; random effects; ADMB; MCMC; North Atlantic humpback whale; Humpback Whale; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://eprints.utas.edu.au/16742/; https://eprints.utas.edu.au/16742/1/front-Ford-thesis-2013.pdf; https://eprints.utas.edu.au/16742/2/whole-ford-thesis-exc-pub-mat.pdf; https://eprints.utas.edu.au/16742/3/whole-ford-thesis-inc-pub-mat.pdf

Mark-recapture analysis is a fundamental tool for understanding populations, since it allows the estimation of demographic parameters, such as survival, movement and reproduction, which can be used to infer population status and predict dynamics. As individuals in wild populations do not all behave in the same way, a challenge is presented in the collection and analysis of these data. Within a natural population, animals may exhibit substantial individual variation which can manifest through these demographic parameters. Inherent individual dierences in movement and behavior can introduce bias into mark-recapture estimates (most notoriously, of population size), and are often of considerable interest in their own right. There has been much focus in mark-recapture research on the development of methods to account for individual heterogeneity, yet easily applied, accurate methods are still lacking. The most natural, but computationally complex, approach for modeling individual heterogeneity assumes a continuous distribution using random eects. This method introduces the complexity of solving for the individual random eects which has been a stumbling block of much work in the mark-recapture eld. The focus of this thesis is the development of methods to better estimate individual heterogeneity in mark-recapture data. In chapter 1 I introduce the concepts arising in this thesis and briey outline techniques for modeling individual heterogeneity. Chapter 2 explores the population consequences of individual heterogeneity in spatial use in the context of a marine protected area. Using population projections, I explore the population consequences of individual heterogeneity in proportion of time spent inside a marine protected area. The projections indicate that individual heterogeneity in spatial use and site delity could have important implications under certain conditions for the dynamics of populations managed using marine protected areas. In several scenarios, high individual heterogeneity resulted in larger ...