Analysis of count data
Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 12:14 pmHi all,
Last year, I tested five different traps in an attempt to come up with a suitable live trapping method for collecting a rare species of invetrebrate. The species lives in woodlands so four of the traps were placed on the forest floor at the base of a tree and the fifth was wrapped around the tree trunk about 1.5m above the ground. I used eight trees in total. However, when I went to check the traps every week I just counted the number of individuals that were present in each trap. I did not remove them. So for example after week one I found 1 slug, week two I found 12 and week 3 say 25. Since the number of slugs on subsequent weeks could include individuals from the previous week, how do I analyse the data? I m interested in comparing the efficacy of each trap. Usually when I carry out this sort of work I remove the individuals from the traps and bring them back to the lab. This time however my target organism was endangered and it was not possible to do this. Any suggestions would be appreciated?
Thanks
Mark
Last year, I tested five different traps in an attempt to come up with a suitable live trapping method for collecting a rare species of invetrebrate. The species lives in woodlands so four of the traps were placed on the forest floor at the base of a tree and the fifth was wrapped around the tree trunk about 1.5m above the ground. I used eight trees in total. However, when I went to check the traps every week I just counted the number of individuals that were present in each trap. I did not remove them. So for example after week one I found 1 slug, week two I found 12 and week 3 say 25. Since the number of slugs on subsequent weeks could include individuals from the previous week, how do I analyse the data? I m interested in comparing the efficacy of each trap. Usually when I carry out this sort of work I remove the individuals from the traps and bring them back to the lab. This time however my target organism was endangered and it was not possible to do this. Any suggestions would be appreciated?
Thanks
Mark