Abstract
Pellet-group counting (PGC) is a commonly used method for estimating the population density of various ungulate species. The method assumes a positive linear relationship between the number of animals and the number of pellet-groups. To estimate population density from PGC, three parameters must be determined: defecation rate, persistence time, and spatial pattern of pellet-groups. This article introduces PELLET, a semi-automatic procedure in Microsoft Excel® for estimating population density in deer. The purpose of PELLET is to support deer managers and studies that determine and compare densities in different types of habitats. The density calculation includes a range of variation in the defecation rate that eliminates the subjective practice of selecting one single defined value for this rate. The calculation also incorporates spatial variation and deposition time. PELLET comprises four Excel® worksheets, the choice of which depends on type of plot and number of field samples. As an example, I describe the application of this procedure in a case study. Spanish and English versions of PELLET are freely available online.
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