Objective The major goal of the present project is to develop and explore suitable statistical tools for identifying relevant trade-offs between biological reality, data limitations and model complexity to assess wildlife population dynamics. On the one hand, by usi ng a recently developed unifying state-space models framework, I will provide an integrated framework for the two most widely-used methods i.e. capture- recapture and distance sampling methods to better integrate data and biology. On the other hand, by usi ng estimation criteria based on parameter-redundancy and near-identifiability notions, I will investigate robustness and reliability of a broad range of applied statistical models. I will produce a taxonomy, diagnostic procedures and computer software to b etter achieve parsimony regarding model complexity. As a result, this project will participate to the creation and improvement of methodologies for modelling and estimation of population sizes and demographic parameters such as survival, recruitment and di spersal, for a better understanding of the structure and changes of a population over time and space. By, for example, providing bio-indicators, this work appears to be crucial to give relevant insights into the increasing human impact on the environment a s it allows us to both analyse and forecast phenomena such as climatic change, habitat destruction and over exploitation of natural resources, all evidence of the so-called biodiversity crisis. This proposal is supported by two of the most advanced British Universities in Ecological Statistics, with the aim to durably create a durable and attractive research network in Europe, between France, Scotland and England which are currently highly active in research in this domain. This network has the potential to provide the foundation of a wider grouping in the future, involving other member states of the Community. Fields of science natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwarenatural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemsnatural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsstatistics and probabilitynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes Keywords Capture Distance Sampling Ecological Statistics Interdisciplinarity Modelling# Near Identifiability Parameter Recapture Redundancy Space Models Programme(s) FP6-MOBILITY - Human resources and Mobility in the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration "Structuring the European Research Area" under the Sixth Framework Programme 2002-2006 Topic(s) MOBILITY-2.1 - Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (EIF) Call for proposal FP6-2002-MOBILITY-5 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme EIF - Marie Curie actions-Intra-European Fellowships Coordinator UNIVERSITY OF KENT EU contribution No data Address The University of Kent at Canterbury CANTERBURY United Kingdom See on map Total cost No data
