This comprehensive book rich with applications offers a quantitative framework for the
analysis of the various capture-recapture models for open animal populations while also
addressing associated computational methods. The state of our wildlife populations provides a
litmus test for the state of our environment especially in light of global warming and the
increasing pollution of our land seas and air. In addition to monitoring our food resources
such as fisheries we need to protect endangered species from the effects of human activities
(e.g. rhinos whales or encroachments on the habitat of orangutans). Pests must be be
controlled whether insects or viruses and we need to cope with growing feral populations such
as opossums rabbits and pigs. Accordingly we need to obtain information about a given
population's dynamics concerning e.g. mortality birth growth breeding sex and migration
and determine whether the respective population is increasing static or declining. There are
many methods for obtaining population information but the most useful (and most
work-intensive) is generically known as capture-recapture where we mark or tag a
representative sample of individuals from the population and follow that sample over time using
recaptures resightings or dead recoveries. Marks can be natural such as stripes fin
profiles and even DNA or artificial such as spots on insects. Attached tags can for example
be simple bands or streamers or more sophisticated variants such as radio and sonic
transmitters. To estimate population parameters sophisticated and complex mathematical models
have been devised on the basis of recapture information and computer packages. This book
addresses the analysis of such models. It is primarily intended for ecologists and wildlife
managers who wish to apply the methods to the types of problems discussed above though it will
also benefit researchers and graduate students in ecology. Familiarity with basic statistical
concepts is essential.
