Sightability adjustment methods for aerial surveys of wildlife populations

Biometrics
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Abstract

Aerial surveys are routinely conducted to estimate the abundance of wildlife species and the rate of population change. However, sightability of animal groups is acknowledged as a significant source of bias in these estimates. Recent research has focused on the development of sightability models to predict the probability of sighting groups under various conditions. Given such models, we show how sightability can be incorporated into the estimator of population size as a probability of response using standard results from sample surveys. We develop formulas for the cases where the sighting probability must be estimated. An example, using data from a helicopter survey of moose in Alberta (Jacobson, Alberta Oil Sands Research Project Report, 1976), is given to illustrate the technique.
Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Sightability adjustment methods for aerial surveys of wildlife populations
Series title Biometrics
DOI 10.2307/2531486
Volume 45
Issue 2
Year Published 1989
Language English
Publisher International Biometric Society
Contributing office(s) National Wildlife Health Center
Description 11 p.
First page 415
Last page 425
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