Differences in Movement Pattern and Detectability between Males and Females Influence How Common Sampling Methods Estimate Sex Ratio

PLoS One. 2016 Jul 21;11(7):e0159736. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159736. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Sampling the biodiversity is an essential step for conservation, and understanding the efficiency of sampling methods allows us to estimate the quality of our biodiversity data. Sex ratio is an important population characteristic, but until now, no study has evaluated how efficient are the sampling methods commonly used in biodiversity surveys in estimating the sex ratio of populations. We used a virtual ecologist approach to investigate whether active and passive capture methods are able to accurately sample a population's sex ratio and whether differences in movement pattern and detectability between males and females produce biased estimates of sex-ratios when using these methods. Our simulation allowed the recognition of individuals, similar to mark-recapture studies. We found that differences in both movement patterns and detectability between males and females produce biased estimates of sex ratios. However, increasing the sampling effort or the number of sampling days improves the ability of passive or active capture methods to properly sample sex ratio. Thus, prior knowledge regarding movement patterns and detectability for species is important information to guide field studies aiming to understand sex ratio related patterns.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biodiversity*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Ecosystem
  • Female
  • Male
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Population Density
  • Population Dynamics
  • Sex Ratio*

Grants and funding

JFMR and MTPC are supported by a graduate fellowship from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq.), respectively. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.