Estimating a Resource Selection Function With Line Transect Sampling

Abstract

A resource selection probability function is a function that gives the prob- ability that a resource unit (e.g., a plot of land) that is described by a set of habitat variables <mml:math alttext="$X_1 $" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msub><mml:mi>X</mml:mi><mml:mn>1</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math> to <mml:math alttext="$X_p $" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msub><mml:mi>X</mml:mi><mml:mi>p</mml:mi></mml:msub></mml:math> will be used by an animal or group of animals in a certain period of time. The estimation of a resource selection function is usually based on the comparison of a sample of resource units used by an animal with a sample of the resource units that were available for use, with both samples being assumed to be effectively randomly selected from the relevant populations. In this paper the possibility of using a modified sampling scheme is examined, with the used units obtained by line transect sampling. A logistic regression type of model is proposed, with estimation by conditional maximum likelihood. A simulation study indicates that the proposed method should be useful in practice.