A popular model selection strategy in capture-recapture is what Lebreton and colleagues (1992)* defined step-down approach where “the model structure on the survival parameter is fixed at a high dimensionality and a model for capture probabilities is selected” (Doherty, White and Burnham 2012)**.
What do you expect to happen if, instead of fixing the other parameters (i.e. those that are modelled next, survival in the previous example) at a high dimensionality (e.g. that of the global model), it would be fixed at a low dimensionality (e.g. constant, no effect)? Actually there would not be a global model here...
So, for instance, instead of this:
1.{S(time + sex) P(time + sex)}
2.{S(time + sex) P(time)}
3.{S(time + sex) P(sex)}# this the lowest AIC model
4.{S(time + sex) P(.)}
5.{S(time) P(sex)}
6.{S(sex) P(sex)}
7.{S(.) P(sex)}
This:
1.{S(.) P(time + sex)}
2.{S(.) P(time)}
3.{S(.) P(sex)}# this the lowest AIC model (would it be?)
4.{S(.) P(.)}
5.{S(time + sex) P(sex)}
6.{S(time) P(sex)}
7.{S(sex) P(sex)}
8.{S(.) P(sex)}
* Lebreton JD, Nichols JD, Barker RJ, Pradel R, Spendelow JA (1992) Modeling individual animal histories with multistate capturere capture models. Adv Ecol Res 41:88–173
** Doherty, P. F., White, G. C., & Burnham, K. P. (2012). Comparison of model building and selection strategies. Journal of Ornithology, 152(2), 317-323.