Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Brooke A. Biddlecombe, Steven H. Ferguson, Mads Peter Heide-Jorgensen, Darren M. Gillis, Cortney A. Watt
Summary: Using genetic mark recapture analyses, the total abundance of the Eastern Canada-West Greenland bowhead whale population was estimated to be 5173 individuals from 2012 to 2021. This suggests that the population may be plateauing well below the pre-commercial whaling carrying capacity estimate. The population estimate is important for updating conservation efforts.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Crinan Jarrett, Daniel T. Haydon, Juan M. Morales, Diogo F. Ferreira, Francis Alemanji Forzi, Andreanna J. Welch, Luke L. Powell, Jason Matthiopoulos
Summary: Estimation methods that combine different types of data can improve accuracy and precision of parameter estimates and predictions. Integrating mark-recapture data with passive acoustic detections improves estimates of population size. Acoustic data collection could be a cost-efficient addition to traditional mark-recapture population estimation.
Review
Entomology
Emma L. Briggs, Christopher Baranski, Olivia Munzer Schaetz, Gabriela Garrison, Jaime A. Collazo, Elsa Youngsteadt
Summary: Wild bees play a crucial role in various ecosystems, but some species are experiencing population decline. The current methods used to assess the population of wild bees have limitations and uncertainties. This study reviews mark-recapture methods and presents a case study comparing them to traditional sampling methods in a wild bee community. The results show that mark-recapture methods are correlated with abundance estimates, providing a feasible way to monitor selected species and evaluate other sampling methods.
Article
Fisheries
Verena M. Trenkel, Gregory Charrier, Pascal Lorance, Mark Bravington
Summary: In this study, we applied the recent close-kin mark-recapture (CKMR) abundance estimation method to thornback ray and drew four practical lessons from the results. CKMR was found to be helpful in identifying metapopulation structure, which could affect abundance estimates and time trends if ignored. We discovered evidence of two distinct local populations of thornback ray with no demographic connectivity. We also found that the composition of the demographic sample and the availability of reasonable age information for potential offspring and the sex of potential parents are crucial for reliable abundance estimation.
ICES JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Fisheries
Manuel Dureuil, William H. Aeberhard, Michael Dowd, Sebastian A. Pardo, Frederick G. Whoriskey, Boris Worm
Summary: The somatic growth of individuals is crucial in the life history of a species and for assessing populations. This study evaluates seven techniques for estimating growth parameters using mark-recapture tagging data and finds that Bayesian implementations of Fabens and Francis methods are the most reliable in simulated data with errors. When applied to observed data of 14 elasmobranch stocks, only BFa gives biologically plausible results. BFa is a reliable alternative to conventional length-at-age methods, especially in data-limited situations for elasmobranchs.
FISHERIES RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Fisheries
Brian J. Shuter, Scott W. Milne, Lee E. Hrenchuk, Derrick T. deKerckhove, Michael D. Rennie
Summary: Population abundance is difficult to measure accurately in fisheries and conservation. Existing estimation methods, such as mark-recapture and hydroacoustic echo counting, have significant challenges. We propose a new methodology that combines hydroacoustic survey data with telemetry data to improve the reliability of echo counting. The results show consistent abundance estimates with conventional mark-recapture studies and offer precision comparable to long-term studies.
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF FISHERIES AND AQUATIC SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Entomology
Brandon M. Quinby, J. Curtis Creighton, Elizabeth A. Flaherty
Summary: Successful conservation and management of protected wildlife populations rely on reliable population abundance data. Photographic mark-recapture (PMR) provides a cost-effective and minimally invasive method to study population dynamics in species with distinct markings. The study tested the feasibility and application of PMR using Hotspotter software to identify Nicrophorus spp. based on elytral spot patterns, demonstrating its utility in estimating population abundance.
ENVIRONMENTAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hanafiah Fazhan, Mohamad N. Azra, Siti Aisah Halim, Muhamad Naimullah, Muyassar H. Abualreesh, Alexander Chong Shu-Chien, Youji Wang, Yushinta Fujaya, Mohammad Syahnon, Hongyu Ma, Khor Waiho, Mhd Ikhwanuddin
Summary: The aim of this study was to determine the movement patterns of mud crabs within the mangrove area. The study found that the tagged crabs did not move far from the release station and there were more male crabs than females.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Matthew J. Silk, Robbie A. McDonald, Richard J. Delahay, Daniel Padfield, David J. Hodgson
Summary: Long-term capture-mark-recapture data can provide valuable information on individual movements and social structures in populations. The CMRnet package introduced in this study generates social and movement networks from spatially explicit capture-mark-recapture data, with important applications in wildlife management and conservation.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gary Rosenberg, Kurt Auffenberg, Ruud Bank, Rudiger Bieler, Philippe Bouchet, David Herbert, Frank Kohler, Thomas A. Neubauer, Eike Neubert, Barna Pall-Gergely, Ira Richling, Simon Schneider
Summary: This article introduces a new method of estimating accepted species diversity by adapting mark-recapture methods to comparisons of taxonomic databases. The study finds that independent databases can be correlated, and the time course of estimates comparing them can help understand the effect of correlation. Testing shows that this method has a high level of accuracy in estimating the completeness of terrestrial gastropod species.
Article
Mathematics
Ismail Shah, Hina Naz, Sajid Ali, Amani Almohaimeed, Showkat Ahmad Lone
Summary: This study examines the performance of classical LASSO, adaptive LASSO, and ordinary least squares (OLS) methods in high-multicollinearity scenarios and proposes new estimators for estimating the LASSO parameter k. The performance of the proposed estimators is evaluated using extensive Monte Carlo simulations and real-life examples. Based on the mean square error criterion, the results suggest that the proposed estimators outperform the existing estimators.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Faith N. Lambert, Sandy Raimondo, Mace G. Barron
Summary: New approach methods are being developed to address the challenges of reducing animal testing and assessing risks to the diversity of species in aquatic environments. The toxicity-normalized species sensitivity distribution (SSDn) approach is a novel method for developing compound-specific hazard concentrations. This method shows promise for developing statistically robust hazard concentrations when adequate taxonomic representation is not available for a single chemical.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Lindsay Wickman, William Rayment, Elisabeth Slooten, Stephen M. Dawson
Summary: This study discusses robust estimation of mark rate and its uncertainty in cetacean populations, finding that hierarchical Bayesian modeling performs better than frequentist variance estimators. Researchers should aim to sample as many unique groups as possible for improved accuracy and precision.
MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Sebastian Wacker, Hans J. Skaug, Torbjorn Forseth, Oyvind Solem, Eva M. Ulvan, Peder Fiske, Sten Karlsson
Summary: Genetic methods, particularly Close-Kin Mark-Recapture (CKMR), can be effective alternatives in estimating population sizes. The study focused on evaluating CKMR for estimating spawner abundance in Atlantic salmon, revealing the impact of age, sex, spatial, and temporal sampling bias on estimates. Results showed that CKMR estimates were robust to bias after correction, offering a moderate sampling effort solution for estimating spawner abundance in Atlantic salmon populations.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Fisheries
Quinn Payton, Nicholas A. Som
Summary: Calibrated estimates of fisheries population abundance are vital in the development and appraisal of management actions. Capture-recapture experiments are valuable monitoring tools for estimating abundance of biological populations. Results showed that an autoregressive model of abundance coupled with a random effects binomial model of recapture was the least biased model.
NORTH AMERICAN JOURNAL OF FISHERIES MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Benjamin N. Sacks, Tianyi Hu, Elizabeth M. Kierepka, Stevi L. Vanderzwan, Jena R. Hickey
Summary: A new panel of SNP markers has been developed for future monitoring of mountain gorilla populations, providing high resolution for individual differentiation and leaving room for additional SNPs in the future. This will facilitate more accurate abundance estimates and improve future monitoring efforts.
CONSERVATION GENETICS RESOURCES
(2021)