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Table 2 Common analytical tools and their basic assumptions

From: iDNA from terrestrial haematophagous leeches as a wildlife surveying and monitoring tool – prospects, pitfalls and avenues to be developed

 

Presence

Occupancy modelling

Spatial capture-recapture

Goal/Measure

Is a particular species present?

Probability of occurrence/distribution; multi-species occupancy modelling for species richness

Abundance/density

Important assumptions

 

Independence of samples (both spatial and temporal); occupancy state at each site remains constant during the study (‘closure assumption’); for multi-species occupancy, sampling of different species must be independent of each other

Population closure; detections are independent among individuals

Data requirements

Stratified sampling of different habitat types to maximize detection probability

At least 20 sites, at least some (random) with repeated visits

Individuals are identifiable; several (at the very least 5) individuals, recaptures at different locations

Key literature

 

MacKenzie DI, Nichols JD, Hines JE, Knutson MG and Franklin AB [52]

Royle JA, Chandler RB, Sollmann R and Gardner B [62]

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Frontiers in Zoology

ISSN: 1742-9994