Phisical removals and GOF - should they be in the data set?
Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 4:44 amHi all,
I am dealing with a case study where a rabbit population was introduced into a fence and they monitored the population by marking and recapturing them. The aims of the field study was to assess the impact of some diseases over the population dynamics.
Anyway, given the first aim of the fence was to serve as a source of rabbits for restocking, in some occasions they phisically removed captured animals and translated them.
So the typical encounter history for these animals (considering two groups according to the gender - one state) is:
001001010 -1 0; (captured at 3rd, 6th and 8th occasion when it was removed)
011110000 0 -1; (captured at 2nd, 3rd 4th, 5th occasion when it was removed)
Given these encounter histories include information about states (but I don't do a multistate GOF because of too few data), I would use them in the Multi-state Capture-recapture analysis because they apport information about transition rates (but I am open to suggestion/commentaries).
Nevertheless, I am in doubt if it makes sense using them for GOF analyses given that, in my opinion, they might create confusion about transience and trap dependence tests (they are not dead, they have been arbitrarily removed). I am afraid that these removed individuals' encounters apport too many individuals captured only once with respect to the "real" pattern. I am not sure how they are handled during GOF.
Any opinion/suggestion on this?
I am dealing with a case study where a rabbit population was introduced into a fence and they monitored the population by marking and recapturing them. The aims of the field study was to assess the impact of some diseases over the population dynamics.
Anyway, given the first aim of the fence was to serve as a source of rabbits for restocking, in some occasions they phisically removed captured animals and translated them.
So the typical encounter history for these animals (considering two groups according to the gender - one state) is:
001001010 -1 0; (captured at 3rd, 6th and 8th occasion when it was removed)
011110000 0 -1; (captured at 2nd, 3rd 4th, 5th occasion when it was removed)
Given these encounter histories include information about states (but I don't do a multistate GOF because of too few data), I would use them in the Multi-state Capture-recapture analysis because they apport information about transition rates (but I am open to suggestion/commentaries).
Nevertheless, I am in doubt if it makes sense using them for GOF analyses given that, in my opinion, they might create confusion about transience and trap dependence tests (they are not dead, they have been arbitrarily removed). I am afraid that these removed individuals' encounters apport too many individuals captured only once with respect to the "real" pattern. I am not sure how they are handled during GOF.
Any opinion/suggestion on this?