The presence or absence of a species across a set of landscape units is a fundamental concept used widely in ecology (e.g., as a monitoring metric, species range or distribution, habitat modelling, resource selection probability functions, metapopulation studies, biodiversity and species co-occurrence). An important sampling issue, however, is that a species may not always be detected when present at a landscape unit. This will result in "false absences" causing parameter estimates to be biased if unaccounted for, possibly leading to misleading results and conclusions, even with moderate levels of imperfect detection.

This workshop will cover many of the latest methods for modeling patterns and dynamics of species occurrence in a landscape while accounting for the imperfect detection of the species. Participants will be introduced to available software through worked examples, and there will be special emphasis on aspects of study design. While primarily aimed at the beginner and intermediate level, more experienced researchers will also benefit from attending.

The workshop fee is US$500 and participants have the option of purchasing the instructors recently published book, Occupancy estimation and modeling: inferring patterns and dynamics of species occurrence.
for the discounted price of US$60.

For registration details visit http://www.proteus.co.nz, or email darryl@proteus.co.nz. Registrations close 1 August 2006.

In this 3-day workshop we shall/may cover,

• estimating and modeling occupancy at a single point in time
• estimating and modeling changes in occupancy over time
• using occupancy-type metrics in multi-species and community studies
• key aspects to designing an efficient occupancy study
• available computer software with worked examples