Copyright © 2007 Biometrika Trust
Miscellanea |
Plant-capture estimation of the size of a homogeneous population
School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9SS, Scotland
ig{at}st-andrews.ac.uk
pej{at}st-andrews.ac.uk
Received for publication 1 June 2005.
Revision received 1 May 2006.
| Abstract |
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We consider maximum likelihood estimation of the size of a target population to which has been added a known number of planted individuals. The standard equal-catchability model used in mark-recapture is assumed to be applicable to the augmented population. After proving the unimodality of the profile likelihood for the target population size, we obtain both the maximum likelihood estimator of this size and interval estimators based on its asymptotic distribution.
Key Words: capture-recapture sampling factorial series distribution GouldHopper number maximum likelihood population size unimodality