Capture-recapture estimation using finite mixtures of arbitrary dimension

Abstract

Reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC) methods are used to fit Bayesian capture-recapture models incorporating heterogeneity in individuals and samples. Heterogeneity in capture probabilities comes from finite mixtures and/or fixed sample effects allowing for interactions. Estimation by RJMCMC allows automatic model selection and/or model averaging. Priors on the parameters stabilize the estimates and produce realistic credible intervals for population size for overparameterized models, in contrast to likelihood-based methods. To demonstrate the approach we analyze the standard Snowshoe hare and Cottontail rabbit data sets from ecology, a reliability testing data set. © 2009, The International Biometric Society.