Print PageDemographic analysis of populations of wildlife species is an essential step in conservation biology. As the study of the dynamics of wildlife populations usually requires detailed demographic data, researchers often collect different kind of data such as population counts, capture-recapture, and data on productivity. Traditionally, these data sets are analyzed individually while studying demographic processes. However, separate analyses will lead to more uncertainty and bias in the estimated vital rates, in particular if sample size is small. The recently developed integrated population modeling allows the use of population counts and demographic data in a single coherent model to estimate as well as model vital rates as a function of covariates. We conduct a simulation study to assess the performance of the model. We illustrate the application of the model with data of a peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) from South Africa.
Results/Conclusions
Our simulation results show that the estimates of vital rates obtained from this model are more precise compared to the “conventional” analyses. The gain in precision is more pronounced when the sample size is small. Further, we show that the potential of integrated population modeling in estimating vital rates for which no explicit data have been sampled. The estimates obtained from the integrated population modeling facilitates population diagnoses (e.g. population viability analysis) and help conservation ecologists designing efficient management plans.
