number parameters multistrata robust design

[bhudgens]

I'm analyzing a mark-recapture study on foxes trapped over 6 consecutive nights for 3-15 years in several locations. I'm using the robust design Huggins closed-population model for a multi-strata (in which each location is a strata) population.

When I try to analyze models including variable capture and/or recapture probabilities each night within trapping sessions the reported number of parameters in the results table is very low. For example, one model with 695 parameters is reported as having 7. This problem does not occur for models assuming that capture/recapture probabilities do not vary within primary sessions. In all cases, parameter estimates are produced for all parameters included in the model, regardless of how many are listed in the results table. Scanning the parameter estimates for the example above, there is no indication that there are only 7 estimable parameters.

Is there a way to determine if MARK is using the correct # of parameters to calculate the AIC values but reporting substantially fewer? Or, if the reported number of parameters is the correct number of independently estimable parameters, which parameters are being estimated idependently and which are being estimated in combination?

-Brian