MSORD to estimate survival and residency times for 2 groups

[A.Spinnett]

Hi there,

I have photos of whales collected by ecotourism operators that I have converted into an encounter history for the years 2006-2013. I have run a few tests and need to run an MSORD model (since there is not demographic closure within or between my primary periods and a lot of temporary emigration). I have also included a group effect for scarred and non-scarred individuals into my models.

I am interested in whether apparent survival and recapture probability varies for scarred and non-scarred individuals whales. I am also interested in whether residency time differs for scarred an non-scarred individuals.

I have read chapter 15 and focused a lot of my attention on 15.8, but I am a bit confused about calculating residency times. Can I calculate average residency time for scarred and non-scarred individuals from my most supported model for 06-13 or do I need to run the MSORD on each seperate year of data to calculate residency times per year?

Any advice/insights on my general modelling methods would also be welcome

Thanks!
Alicia

[Bill Kendall]

MARK will automatically generate estimates for expected residency time, for both Method 1 and Method 2, for each year and state (although for unobservable states you can't estimate residency time). Look for them in the Derived Parameter Estimates part of the MARK output.