Data for: Improving population size estimation at Western Capercaillie leks: lek counts vs. genetic methods

The Western Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), hereafter capercaillie, is the largest galliform bird present in the boreal and montane forests of the Western Palearctic. Precise and accurate methods for estimating the number of individuals and/or their densities are crucial for the proper management of its free-ranging populations. However, obtaining reliable estimates of the abundance of populations of wild species and, particularly, of birds is not a simple task. In the case of lek-mating birds such as capercaillie, surveys are traditionally based on lek counts, that is, counts of calling males present in their mating areas: the leks. This study was carried out on the Pyrenees at six capercaillie leks where two different lek counting approaches were performed: hide-based and walk-based. The results were compared with those obtained from an estimate of minimum population size (MPE) derived from genotyping all faeces samples found in the lek area, and with a population size estimate deriv..., To estimate the population size (N) of each lek, we use only the male samples that have been correctly analysed i.e., with a QI>0.6.
We used the Bayesian approach of this classical M0 model, in which the model is implemented in JAGS code (Plummer 2003) using data augmentation (Kéry and Schaub 2012, Chapter 6.2.1). This model estimated the detection probability on all three sampling occasions based on the assumption that all individuals in each sampling session have equal detection probabilities (see Otis et al., 1978, Kéry and Schaub, 2012 and Supplementary Material S1 for more details and see the Otis Mo model code in R).
References:
Kéry, M. and Schaub, M. 2012. Bayesian population analysis using WinBUGS. A hierarchical perspective. First edition. - Academic Press.
Otis, D.L., Burnham, K. P., White, G. C. and Anderson, D. R. 1978. Statistical inference from capture data on closed animal populations. – Wildl. Monogr. 62:3–135.
Plummer, M. 2003. JAGS: a program for analysis of Bayesi..., , # Data for: Improving population size estimation at Western Capercaillie leks: lek counts vs. genetic methods

The databases provide the date of each sampling season and the number of individuals genotyped with the number of times each individual has been sampled within each sampling session.

We provide our data in nine databases (the different leks) ready-to-use databases by loading them into the R functions in Supplementary Material S1 for the Otis M0 model. The databases are:

AND1-2018.xlsx survey: 2018-1

AND1-2019.xlsx survey: 2019-1

AND2-2007.xlsx survey: 2017-2

T10-2018.xlsx survey: 2018-2

T17-2016.xlsx survey: 2016-1

T18-2016.xlsx survey: 2016-2

T19-2016.xlsx survey: 2016-3

T20-2016.xlsx survey: 2016-4

T20-2017.xlsx survey: 2017-1

Abbreviations of the database:

date: date the sample was collected (faeces)

indv: label of the genotyped individual

An additional database is:

Y_capercaille.xlsx

This database is a summary of the samples counting for the whole nine leks ...