ms2018 wrote:Thank you! So just to clarify- it's currently not supported in RMark but can be added..?
Yes -- provided you can take Jeff out of retirement long enough to implement it.
I've been doing all my occupancy modeling in unmarked for a while now, and am just deciding to switch to RMark and I'm a little intimidated by the prospect of using MARK.
There is a basic hierarchy -- both MARK, and Presence (and RPresence) have by far the more complete set of capabilities for ocupancy modeling (unless, of course, you're among the group that wants to code everything from the ground up in JAGS or the equivalent). unmarked is a very clever piece of software, but in some respects, is pretty limited in what it can do (largely because there is little -> no active development of unmarked).
The learning curve for MARK is perhaps a bit steeper than for Presence, simply because MARK is a more complete software (which does not mean it is better, simply, that MARK was designed to do more things than occupancy analysis, whereas Presence is focussed exclusively on occupancy analysis). The learning curve for MARK is perhaps attenuated somewhat by the fair bit of 'teach yourself' documentation that is out there.
I get asked with some frequency 'if I had to pick one software application to learn for occupancy modelling', which one should I pick?'. My usual recommendation is Presence (and now, especially, RPresence) since it tends to be a bit earlier standing on the bleeding edge of what you can do with occupancy models. MARK usually follows up fairly quickly (meaning, if a new model appears in the literature at time T, its in Presence at time T+1, and in MARK at time T+2 or T+3 months later, sooner if its something that one of the MARK 'inner circle' might need to use for their work). However, if you're going to do more than occupancy modelling at some point, then the steeper learning curve for MARK might be worth the effort. I'm sure Darryl or Jim will weigh in if they have more informed opinions.