An integrated data model to estimate spatiotemporal occupancy, abundance, and colonization dynamics
Williams PJ, Hooten MB, Womble JN, Esslinger GG, Bower MR, Hefley TJ. 2017. An integrated data model to estimate spatiotemporal occupancy, abundance, and colonization dynamics. Ecology. 98(2):323-336
Ecological invasions and colonizations occur dynamically through space and time. Estimating the distribution and abundance of colonizing species is critical for efficient management or conservation. We describe a statistical framework for simultaneously estimating spatiotemporal occupancy and abundance dynamics of a colonizing species. Our method accounts for several issues that are common when modeling spatiotemporal ecological data including multiple levels of detection probability, multiple data sources, and computational limitations that occur when making fine-scale inference over a large spatiotemporal domain. We apply the model to estimate the colonization dynamics of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) in Glacier Bay, in southeastern Alaska.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Williams, Perry; Hooten, Mevan; Womble, Jamie; Esslinger, George; Bower, Michael; Hefley, Trevor
- Units
- GLBA , SEAN
- Keywords
- abundance, aerial images, colonization, glacier bay, imperfect detection, occupancy, sea otter
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Mammals