CueCountingExample: Cue counts of whale blows
Description Format Details Note
Description
Cues are treated as an indirect count, requiring the use of multipliers.
Format
A data frame with 109 rows and 15 variables.
Region.Label | stratum labels |
Area | size (km^2) of each stratum |
Sample.Label | transect labels |
Cue.rate | rate of blows per animal per hour |
Cue.rate.SE | variability in cue rate |
Cue.rate.df | degrees of freedom (number of animals sampled for cues) |
object | object ID |
distance | perpendicular distance (km) |
Sample.Fraction | proportion of full circle scanned (radians) |
Sample.Fraction.SE | variability in sampling fraction (0) |
Search.time | Duration of scanning effort (hr) |
bss | Beaufort sea state |
sp | Species detected (all observations W in these data) |
size | Number of animals in group (all 1 in these data) |
Study.Area | study area name |
Details
Because whale blows disappear instantaneously, there is no need to measure a decay rate. However a cue production rate (blows per individual per unit time) is required, as is a measure of variability of that rate.
Note
There are two other nuances in this survey. Even though the survey is taking place
on a moving ship, effort is measured as amount of time scanning for blows. In some instances,
it is not possible for the observer to scan the sea all around them as view may be restricted
by the ship's superstructure. Here a sampling fraction multiplier is employed
to deal with restricted vision. Units of measure of cue.rate and Search.time
must be equal.
