Survey data and code to estimate abundance of Brachyramphus murrelets, Icy Bay, Alaska, USA

A fundamental aspect of ecology is identifying and characterizing population processes. In population studies, we almost always use sampling to make inference about the biological population, which is the population of interest, and the part of the population at risk of sampling is referred to as the statistical population. Ideally, the statistical population is the same as, or accurately represents its corresponding biological population. However, in practice, they rarely align in space and time, which can lead to biased inference. We often view a population misalignment as a temporary emigration process and resolve it with replicate and/or repeat sampling, though this approach is not feasible for all species and habitats. We developed a hierarchical framework to estimate abundance of a biological population of the Kittlitz’s murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris), a highly mobile, non-territorial, ice-associated seabird of conservation concern in Alaska and eastern Russia. Our model co..., These data used to estimate abundance and trend of Kittlitz's murrelets were collected in Icy Bay, Alaska, USA between 2005 and 2012. Boat survey data were gathered along line transects using distance sampling, and telemetry data were collected by flying aerial telemetry flights to locate radio-tagged murrelets during the breeding season. Methods are summarized in numerous publications, including the current manuscript in review at Peer Community In Ecology and several others described in the README file., , # Survey data and code to estimate abundance of *Brachyramphus murrelets*, Icy Bay, Alaska, USA

## Data description and file structure:

These data were analyzed and summarized in a manuscript submitted to PCI Ecology as part of a special issue for the EURING Analytical Conference Proceedings, April 2023. The title of the manuscript is “Using multiple datasets to account for misalignment between statistical and biological populations for abundance estimation.”

File structure is as follows:

DataCode_BRMU_KISSLING_et_al

\|- Data
\| |- AbundanceResults
\| |- BoatSurveys
\| |- TelemetrySurveys
\|- Code
\| |- JAGS
\| | |- AbundanceEstimation
\| | |- ProbPresenceEstimation
\| | |- TrendEstimation
\| |- R
\| | |- AbundanceEstimation
\| | |- ProbPresenceEstimation
\| | |- TrendEstimation
\|- SupplementalInformation

#### Data folder

All raw data files are included in the folder \"Data.\" Boat and telemetry survey data were collected between 2005 and 2012, using methods descr...