long-term encounter history merge concern...

questions concerning analysis/theory using program MARK

long-term encounter history merge concern...

Postby Fish_Boy » Tue Jan 23, 2018 11:52 am

I have a few long-term data sets, that were initially treated as juveniles and adults. I would like to merge certain data sets into a single INP file containing a covariate, which is straight forward. However my question is as follows:

Juvenile 10101010011 1;
Adult 10110000110 1;

Merged 10101010011 10;
10110000110 01;

What is the best way to code the encounter history for a Juvenile transitioning to adult?

Option A
10101010011 -10;
10101010011 01;
10110000110 01;

Option B
10101010011 -10;
00000000001 01;
10110000110 01;

Is one option better than the other? The best model in invariably constant high survival for both juveniles and adults. Based on the data to date there appears to be no difference in survival, outside of targeted adult harvest (based on tag returns), which makes me think Option A would be ok. Thank-you in advance.
Fish_Boy
 
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Re: long-term encounter history merge concern...

Postby DuaneD » Fri Feb 23, 2018 5:06 pm

I think you need to provide more information on how to best handle these data. For example, what kind of analysis is this (live recaptures?). Do all the animals transition from juvenile to adult at the same time? If so, you can model that transition in the PIM matrix if you are doing a CJS analysis.

If the transitions occur at different times for different animals I'm not sure what you can do - depends on the analysis.

I would note that you appear to have a mistake in your input file format. The indicators for groups are separated by spaces. For example,

1010011000 1 0;
1011000010 0 1;

would indicate the first record belongs to group 1, the second record to group 2.
DuaneD
 
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