Markov chain sampling methods that automatically adapt to characteristics of the distribution being sampled can be constructed by exploiting the principle that one can sample from a distribution by sampling uniformly from the region under the plot of its density function. A Markov chain that converges to this uniform distribution can be constructed by alternating uniform sampling in the vertica...

Markov chain sampling methods that adapt to characteristics of the distribution being sampled can be constructed using the principle that one can sample from a distribution by sampling uniformly from the region under the plot of its density function. A Markov chain that converges to this uniform distribution can be constructed by alternating uniform sampling in the vertical direction with unifo...

Concerns about the efficiency and the reliability of point sampling to estimate change in forest growth variables have been expressed ever since point sampling appeared in the literature more than 60 years ago. Change estimators for point samples based on point-to-tree distance in variable-radius plots were introduced about 30 years ago but are rarely implemented despite easy access to point-to...

hyrcanian forests in northern slope of alborz support high bird richness and abundance same as central of europe. in this study, efficiency of different methods including fixed-width transect, variable-width transect, fixed-radius point count and variable circular plot samplings were compared in order to present the most reliable methods for surveying and monitoring of diurnal forest birds in f...

During winter, aerial surveys are used to estimate densities of ducks that occupy open-water habitats. However, such surveys are ineffective for sampling forest-dwelling species, especially Aix sponsa (Wood Ducks), Anas platyrhynchos (Mallards), and Lophodytes cucullatus (Hooded Mergansers). We evaluated fi xed-radius plot (FRP) and Reynolds and Goodrum variable-radius plot (VRP) methods for es...

Care must be taken when interpreting the coefficients of dummy variables in semi-logarithmic regression models. Existing results in the literature provide the best unbiased estimator of the percentage change in the dependent variable, implied by the coefficient of a dummy variable, and of the variance of this estimator. We extend these results by establishing the exact sampling distribution of ...

We used variance components to assess allocation of sampling effort in a hierarchically nested sampling design for ongoing monitoring of early life history stages of the federally endangered Devils Hole pupfish (DHP) (Cyprinodon diabolis). Sampling design for larval DHP included surveys (5 days each spring 2007-2009), events, and plots. Each survey was comprised of three counting events, where ...