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Estimation in Independent Observer Line Transect Surveys for Clustered Populations
Author(s) -
Chen Song Xi
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
biometrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.298
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1541-0420
pISSN - 0006-341X
DOI - 10.1111/j.0006-341x.1999.00754.x
Subject(s) - abundance estimation , nonparametric statistics , estimator , covariate , kernel density estimation , transect , statistics , observer (physics) , mathematics , computer science , econometrics , abundance (ecology) , ecology , biology , quantum mechanics , physics
Summary. This paper introduces a framework for animal abundance estimation in independent observer line transect surveys of clustered populations. The framework generalizes an approach given in Chen (1999, Environmental and Ecological Statistics 6 , in press) to accommodate heterogeneity in detection caused by cluster size and other covariates. Both parametric and nonparametric estimators for the local effective search widths, given the covariates, can be derived from the framework. A nonparametric estimator based on conditional kernel density estimation is proposed and studied owing to its flexibility in modeling the detection functions. A real data set on harbor porpoise in the North Sea is analyzed.