CMI: Capture-Recapture for Spatial Data

Prestige Lakeside Resort, Nelson BC

Course description

Animal populations are often studied by trapping individuals, marked or otherwise distinguishable, at discrete points in space or by searching an area for sign. The statistical analysis of such data to estimate population density or size is more robust and effective if it accounts for the spatial distribution of sampling. There has been rapid growth of relevant methods and software in the last few years, but these have yet to appear in standard texts. Spatially explicit capture–recapture (SECR) analyses are used widely for bear populations sampled with hair snags and for large cats caught on automatic cameras. The methods extend to grid trapping of small mammals, mist-netting of birds, DNA from feces, and sounds recorded on microphone arrays.

Details and registration are at www.cmiae.org/Events

Content

This 3-day short course introduces the core concepts of SECR, the free Windows software ‘Density’ and the R package ‘secr’. There will be some time set aside to discuss participants’ data. Specific topics to be covered include:

- spatial data types
- detection functions
- the use of habitat masks
- modelling of trap response and spatial, temporal or individual covariates
- interpreting output and troubleshooting
- study design
- density surfaces
- open-population analysis.

Our instructor

Dr. Murray Efford is a population ecologist with long experience in live-trapping studies. He has recently focused on developing spatially explicit capture–recapture methods, and acoustic methods for assessing bird populations. He is the author of the Windows software ‘Density’ and the R package ‘secr’, and has presented SECR workshops in New Zealand, Malaysia, UK, and Canada.

Class size:Class size is limited to 16 people.
Cost: $675.00 plus HST to be paid at the time of registration. Software for the course is free from the internet.
Course fee includes: Instruction and coffee breaks. Participants are responsible for their own meals and hotel arrangements. Participants are to bring a laptop computer pre-loaded with software

View details about CMI's other upcoming events:

-- Urban Wildlife: Challenges and Management - April 2012
-- CMI's Annual Researchers' Meeting - May 2012
-- Unleashing your GPS unit course - May 2012 (details coming soon)
-- Soils Refresher course - May 2012
-- Introduction to using R software- June 2012