Exploring ecological relationships in survival and estimating rates of population change using program MARK

摘要: Recent advances in the theory and application of Cormack-Jolly-Seber capture–recapture models include incorporating individual covariates into the capture–recapture modeling process, and estimating finite rates of population change (λ) from a single capture–history matrix. Program MARK, a software package, incorporates both of these features to allow examination of ecological mechanisms affecting life history traits and how populations change over time. Individual covariates are variables associated with individual capture histories and are modeled in MARK using design matrices. The use of individual covariates in MARK are described with an example examining the effects of physical condition and parasitism on female survival in a fictitious avian species. Individual covariates also can be extended to habitat relationships—at least for territorial species—where individual covariates are habitat variables associated with territories where individuals reside. In program MARK, population rates of change (λ) based on capture–recapture data can be modeled with time-dependency, as a function of external covariates (such as weather) or with individual covariates.