Using hidden Markov models to deal with availability bias on line transect surveys
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Date
2013Funder
Grant ID
EP/I000917/1
Keywords
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Abstract
We develop estimators for line transect surveys of animals that are stochastically unavailable for detection while within detection range. The detection process is formulated as a hidden Markov model with a binary state-dependent observation model that depends on both perpendicular and forward distances. This provides a parametric method of dealing with availability bias when estimates of availability process parameters are available even if series of availability events themselves are not. We apply the estimators to an aerial and a shipboard survey of whales, and investigate their properties by simulation. They are shown to be more general and more flexible than existing estimators based on parametric models of the availability process. We also find that methods using availability correction factors can be very biased when surveys are not close to being instantaneous, as can estimators that assume temporal independence in availability when there is temporal dependence.
Citation
Borchers , D L , Zucchini , W , Heide-Jørgensen , M P , Cañadas , A & Langrock , R 2013 , ' Using hidden Markov models to deal with availability bias on line transect surveys ' , Biometrics , vol. 69 , no. 3 , pp. 703-713 . https://doi.org/10.1111/biom.12049
Publication
Biometrics
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0006-341XType
Journal article
Rights
© 2013, The International Biometric Society. The final, published version of this article is availble from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/biom.12049/full
Description
This work was supported by EPSRC grant EP/I000917/1Collections
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