Hi
I have a problem with estimating population size from closed population models in MARK. I thought I had loads of data (46000 captures of 25000 individuals) but this is across 82 sites (which I am assuming I have to analyze separately-if I am wrong this would be very exciting, please let me know if anyone knows of a way I could put it all in together).
I have strong trap dependence in my data so I need to have a model such as p(g)c(g*t)n(g) however this is too many parameters for my data to be able to estimate when all broken up site by site-not enough degrees of freedom.
The alternative approach as far as I can see is running an old fashioned removal experiment type analysis where recaptures don't count at all. I could go back to books and build something to run this in excel or what ever but this seems crazy surely its possible in MARK or another available package. I can’t be the first person to have this problem.
I would really appreciate any help that anyone can offer.
Julia Jones Conservation Biology Group University of Cambridge