Knowledge of population size is essential for the management of animal and plant populations. Direct count methods such as strip counts provide accurate estimates of objects abundance, but such methods are only applicable in more open ground areas, where the objects can be easily seen [1]. An alternative approach which reduces any bias and improves the precision of abundance estimates is the used of distance sampling methods. One main approach of distance sampling is line transect sampling [1]. In the conventional method of line transect sampling, the total line length is fixed before it is traversed with the number of distances detected being random, respectively. In 2010, Opao [3] developed the fully sequential method for line transect sampling, where the total line length is not fixed in advance and evaluated the method in terms of sample size, accuracy, and precision as compared to the conventional method. This paper developed a two-stage sequential procedure for line transect sampling with the hope of improving Opao’s [3] fully sequential method. Data from a series of simulations using R are used to evaluate the method. The results show that the sequential methods proved to be better than the conventional method in terms of sample size, for larger cost(c) values. Lastly, in terms of precision, the two-stage sequential procedure is the best method among the three methods at smaller values of c for line transect sampling.

conventional distance sampling, fully sequential, two-stage sequential sampling.

Received: April 5, 2022; Revised: April 19, 2022; Accepted: April 30, 2022; Published: May 31, 2022

How to cite this article: Analyn C. Malines and Daisy Lou L. Polestico, A two-stage sequential procedure applied to line transect sampling, Advances in Probability, Stochastic Processes and Applied Statistics 1 (2022), 27-36. DOI: 10.17654/PAS2022003

This Open Access Article is Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

References:

[1] S. T. Buckland, D. R. Anderson, K. P. Burnham, J. L. Laake, D. L. Borchers and L. Thomas, Introduction to Distance Sampling: Estimating Abundance of Biological Populations, New York, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2001.
[2] S. T. Buckland, D. R. Anderson, K. P. Burnham, J. L. Laake, D. L. Borchers and L. Thomas, Advanced Distance Sampling: Estimating Abundance of Biological Populations, New York, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2004.
[3] Ray G. Opao, Sequential Line and Point Transects Sampling, Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology, School of Graduate Studies, 2010.