ΔQAICc rankings for models used to test for the effect of breast feather mercury (Hg) on apparent survival in three species of coastal sparrows in NC salt marshes over five winters.

Model notation follows White and Burnham (1999); (·) indicates that a given parameter estimate did not vary among species or years; ΔQAICc indicates quasi-Akaike’s information criterion simple differences adjusted for small sample size and a ĉ (variance inflation factor) adjustment of 2.107; wi indicates Akaike’s model weight; k indicates the number of parameters included in a given model. Years refers to the time intervals (between consecutive banding years) for which MARK generates parameter estimates; survival refers to apparent survival; capture refers to capture probability. Models with non-informative parameters were removed from consideration as candidate models and are not shown here.