Introduction to Program MARK A Program MARK Workshop, will be held at the Swiftel Center in Brookings, SD, 14-18 March 2016. OVERVIEW This introductory-level workshop will provide biologists and graduate students with the basic background to understand the mainstream analyses performed by Program MARK. A mixture of lectures and laboratory exercises will be provided. Participants will learn the basics of parameter estimation with likelihood theory, model selection with Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC), and the binomial and mulitnomial distributions. Models to be covered include:
* Known Fate * Nest Success * Cormack Jolly Seber * Multi-State * Joint Live and Dead models The clientele for this workshop are biologists and graduate students that have some or limited prior experience with Program MARK and will need to estimate abundance or vital rates from mark-recapture data in the near future. FORMAT Format for the workshop will be a combination of lectures and computer lab exercises. The workshop will start on Monday morning, 8:30 AM, and at 8:00 AM Tuesday-Friday. The instructor will provide one-on-one project consulting on Friday. Graduate students have the option of earning 3 graduate credit hours for the course. Please contact us for details on how to apply for and earn these credits, if interested. INSTRUCTOR Dr. Darryl MacKenzie, Proteus Consulting Ltd. Darryl is an internationally renowned biometrician, particularly for his work on the development and application of species occurrence models. He has over 15 years of experience in applying statistical techniques to ecological and environmental situations, starting at the University of Otago, and then progressing to North Carolina State University (based at USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center) in 2000, before commencing full-time with Proteus in 2001. Darryl has provided advice on studies for a wide-range of species and enjoys the challenge of combining the statistical theory with the practical realities to develop a pragmatic solution. COST Registration cost for the 5-day workshop is $1,050. This fee includes course materials, facilities for the workshop, lunch Monday through Thursday, and morning and afternoon refreshments. All other costs (i.e., travel, lodging, remaining meals, etc.) will be the responsibility of the workshop participant. QUESTIONS & REGISTRATION Please visit our website: http://thetributarygroup.com Workshop Co-chairs: Dr. Troy Grovenburg (troy.grovenb...@sdstate.edu<mailto:troy.grovenb...@sdstate.edu>) and Dr. Katie Bertrand (katie.bertr...@sdstate.edu<mailto:katie.bertr...@sdstate.edu>)