Estimating population size when individuals are asynchronous: A model illustrated with northern elephant seal breeding colonies

Richard Condit, Sarah G Allen, Daniel P Costa, Sarah Codde, P Dawn Goley, Burney J Le Boeuf, Mark S Lowry and Patricia Morris

PLOS ONE, 2022, vol. 17, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Our aim was to develop a method for estimating the number of animals using a single site in an asynchronous species, meaning that not all animals are present at once so that no one count captures the entire population. This is a common problem in seasonal breeders, and in northern elephant seals, we have a model for quantifying asynchrony at the Año Nuevo colony. Here we test the model at several additional colonies having many years of observations and demonstrate how it can account for animals not present on any one day. This leads to correction factors that yield total population from any single count throughout a season. At seven colonies in California for which we had many years of counts of northern elephant seals, we found that female arrival date varied

Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0262214

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262214

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