A mark and removal field procedure for estimating population abundance [Wildlife management]

A census design is presented that yields data for estimating animal abundance in closed populations using mark-recapture and constant removal techniques. Tests of goodness-of-fit for the multinomial removal model and homogeneity of capture probabilities for marked and unmarked animals are presented. When assumptions are valid, a 3rd abundance estimator, the mark-removal method, may be used, which generally possesses smaller sampling variance. Computer simulations estimate the relative efficiency of the alternative estimators when valid. Capture data are used to illustrate that agreement among diverse abundance estimators is not necessarily presumptive evidence of model validity.