Food supplementation and abundance estimation in the white-footed mouse

2006 ◽  
Vol 84 (8) ◽  
pp. 1210-1215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-Jen L. Shaner

Food availability often drives consumer population dynamics. However, food availability may also influence capture probability, which if not accounted for may create bias in estimating consumer abundance and confound the effects of food availability on consumer population dynamics. This study compared two commonly used abundance indices (minimum number alive (MNA) and number of animals captured per night per grid) with an abundance estimator based on robust design model as applied to the white-footed mouse ( Peromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque, 1818)) in food supplementation experiments. MNA consistently generated abundance estimates similar to the robust design model, regardless of food supplementation. The number of animals captured per night per grid, however, consistently generated lower abundance estimates compared with MNA and the robust design model. Nevertheless, the correlations between abundance estimates from MNA, number of animals captured, and robust design model were not influenced by food supplementation. This study demonstrated that food supplementation is not likely to create bias among these different measures of abundance. Therefore, there is a great potential for conducting meta-analysis of food supplementation effect on consumer population dynamics (particularly in small mammals) across studies using different abundance indices and estimators.

Oecologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Nägeli ◽  
Patrick Scherler ◽  
Stephanie Witczak ◽  
Benedetta Catitti ◽  
Adrian Aebischer ◽  
...  

AbstractThe joint effects of interacting environmental factors on key demographic parameters can exacerbate or mitigate the separate factors’ effects on population dynamics. Given ongoing changes in climate and land use, assessing interactions between weather and food availability on reproductive performance is crucial to understand and forecast population dynamics. By conducting a feeding experiment in 4 years with different weather conditions, we were able to disentangle the effects of weather, food availability and their interactions on reproductive parameters in an expanding population of the red kite (Milvus milvus), a conservation-relevant raptor known to be supported by anthropogenic feeding. Brood loss occurred mainly during the incubation phase, and was associated with rainfall and low food availability. In contrast, brood loss during the nestling phase occurred mostly due to low temperatures. Survival of last-hatched nestlings and nestling development was enhanced by food supplementation and reduced by adverse weather conditions. However, we found no support for interactive effects of weather and food availability, suggesting that these factors affect reproduction of red kites additively. The results not only suggest that food-weather interactions are prevented by parental life-history trade-offs, but that food availability and weather conditions are crucial separate determinants of reproductive output, and thus population productivity. Overall, our results suggest that the observed increase in spring temperatures and enhanced anthropogenic food resources have contributed to the elevational expansion and the growth of the study population during the last decades.


2018 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. e01329 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Kendall ◽  
Seth Stapleton ◽  
Gary C. White ◽  
James I. Richardson ◽  
Kristen N. Pearson ◽  
...  

The Condor ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 106 (4) ◽  
pp. 720-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Kendall ◽  
James D. Nichols

Abstract The estimation of dispersal and movement is important to evolutionary and population ecologists, as well as to wildlife managers. We review statistical methodology available to estimate movement probabilities. We begin with cases where individual birds can be marked and their movements estimated with the use of multisite capture-recapture methods. Movements can be monitored either directly, using telemetry, or by accounting for detection probability when conventional marks are used. When one or more sites are unobservable, telemetry, band recoveries, incidental observations, a closed- or open-population robust design, or partial determinism in movements can be used to estimate movement. When individuals cannot be marked, presence-absence data can be used to model changes in occupancy over time, providing indirect inferences about movement. Where abundance estimates over time are available for multiple sites, potential coupling of their dynamics can be investigated using linear cross-correlation or nonlinear dynamic tools. Sobre la Estimación de la Dispersión y el Movimiento de las Aves Resumen. La estimación de la dispersión y el movimiento es importante para los ecó logos evolutivos y de poblaciones, así como también para los encargados del manejo de vida silvestre. Revisamos la metodología estadística disponible para estimar probabilidades de movimiento. Empezamos con casos donde aves individuales pueden ser marcadas y sus movimientos estimados con el uso de métodos de captura-repactura para múltiples sitios. Los movimientos pueden ser monitoreados ya sea directamente, usando telemetría o teniendo en cuenta las probabilidades de detección cuando se usan marcas convencionales. Cuando uno o más sitios no pueden ser observados, se puede estimar el movimiento usando telemetría, recuperación de anillos, observaciones circunstanciales, un diseño poblacional robusto cerrado o abierto, o determinismo parcial de los movimientos. Cuando los individuos no pueden ser marcados, se pueden usar datos de presencia-ausencia para modelar los cambios en el tiempo de la ocupación, brindando inferencias indirectas sobre los movimientos. Cuando las estimaciones de abundancia a lo largo del tiempo están disponibles para varios sitios, se puede investigar la interrelación potencial de sus dinámicas usando correlaciones cruzadas lineales o herramientas para dinámica no lineal.


2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (5) ◽  
pp. 682-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher V. Manhard ◽  
Nicholas A. Som ◽  
Russell W. Perry ◽  
John M. Plumb

We conducted a meta-analysis of laboratory- and hatchery-based growth data to estimate broadly applicable parameters of mass- and temperature-dependent growth of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Following studies of other salmonid species, we incorporated the Ratkowsky growth model into an allometric model and fit this model to growth observations from eight studies spanning ten different populations. To account for changes in growth patterns with food availability, we reparameterized the Ratkowsky model to scale several of its parameters relative to ration. The resulting model was robust across a wide range of ration allocations and experimental conditions, accounting for 99% of the variation in final body mass. We fit this model to growth data from coho salmon inhabiting tributaries and constructed ponds in the Klamath Basin by estimating habitat-specific indices of food availability. The model produced evidence that constructed ponds provided higher food availability than natural tributaries. Because of their simplicity (only mass and temperature are required as inputs) and robustness, ration-varying Ratkowsky models have utility as an ecological tool for capturing growth in freshwater fish populations.


1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (10) ◽  
pp. 1904-1911 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd W. Arnold

I studied the effects of food availability, habitat quality, and timing of breeding on egg production in yellow-headed blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus). Food availability was experimentally manipulated by providing females on six wetlands with supplemental food; six additional wetlands served as unsupplemented controls. Mean nest initiation dates varied by up to 6 d among wetlands, and supplementally fed blackbirds initiated nests 2 d earlier than controls, on average (although this latter difference was not quite significant; P = 0.07). Clutch size declined with laying date, but was unaffected by wetland location, food supplementation, or interactions between these two factors and laying date. Although egg size did not vary among wetlands or in relation to supplemental feeding, egg composition varied with both of these factors. All egg components except wet and dry shell and dry albumen varied among wetlands, whereas total water, wet yolk, and lean yolk were the only components that varied with food supplementation. Large blackbird eggs contained proportionately more water and albumen, but proportionately less yolk and shell. These patterns were somewhat compensatory, such that proportional protein and energy content did not vary with egg size; however, large eggs contained proportionately less fat than did small eggs. Proportional egg composition varied among wetlands (yolk and energy content), but was not affected by supplemental feeding. In general, egg production by yellow-headed blackbirds was not greatly affected by food availability. This may have been due to any of the following four factors: (1) inaccessibility of food supplements owing to competition between male and female blackbirds, (2) insufficient time for females to respond to food supplements, owing to rapid settlement and nest initiation, (3) a nutritionally inappropriate food supplement (i.e., protein availability may not have been enhanced among fed birds), or (4) superabundance of natural foods such that food availability was not limiting egg production.


2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (8) ◽  
pp. 911-920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baofa Yin ◽  
Guoliang Li ◽  
Xinrong Wan ◽  
Guozhen Shang ◽  
Wanhong Wei ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 2016-2024
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Okamura ◽  
Yuuho Yamashita ◽  
Momoko Ichinokawa ◽  
Shota Nishijima

Abstract Age-structured models have played an important role in fisheries stock assessment. Although virtual population analysis (VPA) was once the most widely used stock assessment model for when catch-at-age information is available, (hierarchical) statistical catch-at-age analysis (SCAA) is about to take that position. However, the estimation performance of different age-structured models has not been evaluated sufficiently, especially in cases where there are few available abundance indices. We examined the performance of VPA and SCAA using simulation data in which only the abundance indices of spawning stock biomass and recruitment were available. The simulation demonstrated that VPA with the ridge penalty selected by minimizing retrospective bias provided near-unbiased abundance estimates without catch-at-age error and moderately biased estimates with catch-at-age error, whereas SCAA with random-walk selectivity suffered from problems in estimating parameters and population states. Without sufficient information on abundance trends, naïvely using SCAA with many random effects should be done cautiously, and comparing results from various age-structured models via simulation tests will be informative in selecting an appropriate stock assessment model.


Author(s):  
Xiang Li ◽  
Daniel D. Frey

This paper documents a meta-analysis of 113 data sets from published factorial experiments. The study quantifies regularities observed among factor effects and multi-factor interactions. Such regularities are known to be critical to efficient planning and analysis of experiments and to robust design of engineering systems. Three previously observed properties are analyzed — effect sparsity, hierarchy, and heredity. A new regularity is introduced and shown to be statistically significant. It is shown that a preponderance of active two-factor interaction effects are synergistic, meaning that when main effects are used to increase the system response, the interaction provides an additional increase. The potential implications for robust design are discussed.


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