Information regarding population status and abundance of rare species plays a key role in resource management decisions. Ideally, data should be collected using statistically sound sampling methods, but by their very nature, rare or elusive species pose a difficult sampling challenge. Sampling Rare or Elusive Species describes the latest sampling designs and survey methods for reliably estimating occupancy, abundance, and other population parameters of rare, elusive, or otherwise hard-to-detect plants and animals. It offers a mixture of theory and application, with actual examples from terrestrial, aquatic, and marine habitats around the world. Sampling Rare or Elusive Species is the first volume devoted entirely to this topic and provides natural resource professionals with a suite of innovative approaches to gathering population status and trend data. It represents an invaluable reference for natural resource professionals around the world, including fish and wildlife biologists, ecologists, biometricians, natural resource managers, and all others whose work or research involves rare or elusive species.
Foreword Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Introduction
PART I. Overview and Basic Concepts Chapter 2. Sampling Rare Populations Chapter 3. Separating Components of Detection Probability in Abundance Estimation: An Overview with Diverse Examples Chapter 4. Indexes as Surrogates to Abundance for Low-Abundance Species
PART II. Sampling Designs for Rare Species and Populations Chapter 5. Application of Adaptive Sampling to Biological Populations Chapter 6. Two-Phase Adaptive Stratified Sampling Chapter 7. Sequential Sampling for Rare or Geographically Clustered Populations
PART III. Estimating Occupancy Chapter 8. Occupancy Estimation and Modeling for Rare and Elusive Species Chapter 9. A Bayesian Approach to Estimating Presence When a Species is Undetected Chapter 10. Searching for New Populations of Rare Plant Species in Remote Locations
PART IV. Estimating Abundance, Density and Other Parameters Chapter 11. Using Non-invasive Genetic Sampling to Detect and Estimate Abundance of Rare Wildlife Species Chapter 12. Photographic Sampling of Elusive Mammals in Tropical Forests Chapter 13. Using Probability Sampling of Animal Tracks in Snow to Estimate Abundance Chapter 14. Sampling Rockfish Populations: Adaptive Sampling and Hydroacoustics Chapter 15. Survival Estimation in Bats: Historical Overview, Critical Appraisal, and Suggestions for New Approaches Chapter 16. Evaluating Methods for Monitoring Populations of Mexican Spotted Owls: A Case Study
PART V. The Future Chapter 17. Future Directions in Estimating Abundance of Rare or Elusive Species
Reviewers About the Editor Index
"The contributors include some of the best quantitative thinkers in biology, and the book chapters are well written, thoughtfully organized, and very informative...An essential addition to the libraries of scientists and practitioners in wildlife biology."
