variance components and density

[brouwerl]

I would like to explain temporal variation in survival by density, after taking into account random year effects. I can use the method of moments estimator to reduce the variance related to sampling variation on the real parameters and then include density in the user defined DM. But how can I get an estimate of the slope and SE of the density effect? Or is there a better way of doing this?

Another problem is that I have two age classes, how to include this in the variance component estimation? Or do I have to use the MCMC method on the betas instead?

Lyanne