Week 11

Day 1

Today

• Brian is absent. Please carry on without me.

In Class Discussion led by Dominik and Abigail link

1. The authors state they use a “process model” and an “observation model.” In your own words, what does this mean, and what is it representing here? Can you think of a situation in your own work where you might want to use a similar structure?

2. What are some of the key model design choices the authors used? Did they face limitations in measurement related to their instruments or staffing, for example, and how did those show up in modeling? Did you feel that they justified their decisions convincingly? Are there components that you have questions about? Under what conditions (if any) do you feel that these decisions could lead to model bias or error?

3. Does the model answer the conservation question or address the gap that the authors set out to fill? Knowing what you do about the study system, are there any other factors you think should have been considered? Did you find the model satisfactory to predict human-wildlife conflict, and if not, what would improve it?

Optional:

4. How should we interpret disagreement between different sources of information? What can we learn when farmers report conflict but camera traps do not detect wild boar?

5. Would you use this model to make management decisions? What additional evidence would you want before acting on its predictions?

In Class Discussion led by Ashish and Jonathan

• Prochazka et al. 2023

Assigned

• Readings for next class:
  • Kery and Schaub Ch7

Day 2 (lab)

Today

• Groups work on defining the CJS model using constant parameters and then with sex effect on survival, but not detection. From the reading, what is so important about the initial values in this type of model?

• Downloads: Files

• Install R packages:

# CRAN packages
install.packages(c("stringr","coda","runjags"))

Assigned

• Readings for next class:
  • Student Assigned
  • Student Assigned