PROGRAM BROWNIE
Program BROWNIE is an old FORTRAN program to estimate survival and recovery
rates from band-recovery data. A more modern, flexible program for this type
of analysis is program MARK (a Windows program written by Gary White) which is
available at the following web site:
http://www.cnr.colostate.edu/~gwhite/mark/mark.htm.
There is no "user's manual" for this program, but the methods used by the
program (and some outdated instructions) are described in:
Brownie, C., D.R. Anderson, K.P. Burnham, and D.S. Robson. 1985.
Statistical Inference from Band Recovery Data-A Handbook. 2nd
edition. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Resource Publication 156.
Click here
to view section describing program usage.
Input data for BROWNIE consists of a vector of bandings and a matrix of
recoveries from those bandings. Output consists of survival and recovery rate
estimates under a sequence of models.
An example follows:
YOUNG AND ADULT MALLARDS BANDED IN SOUTHWESTERN SASKATCHEWAN, 1956 TO 1959.
4 91956 2
36 24 12 5 5 2 2 2 1
51 40 23 17 6 3 1 6
185 80 62 29 19 13 17
125 89 38 22 20 21
578 724 2639 2945
222 81 44 18 16 5 4 4 4
401 167 63 57 26 3 12 12
441 120 72 35 13 21 11
95 22 19 2 5 4
1886 4597 4632 1351
In this example, birds were banded in 4 years and recoveries were recorded in
9 years (line 2). Banding began in 1956 when 578 adult birds and 1886 young
birds were banded (lines 7 and 12). In 1956, 36 recoveries were reported
from adults banded in 1956 (line 3). In 1958, 167 recoveries
were roported from the young birds banded in 1957 (line 9).
2045 adult birds and 1351 young birds were banded during the final year of the
study (lines 7 and 12).
The program (BROWNIE) can be run on-line via the following web-site:
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/software/BROWNIE.html
where an input text box will accept the input file described below. The usual
procedure for running the program on the web is to create an input file on
your PC, select all of the text and copy to the clipboard, then paste the text
into the input box in your web browser. Then click the 'Perform Analysis'
button. Output will appear in the web browser.
FORTRAN source code for BROWNIE is available from the following web site:
ftp://pwrcftpr.er.usgs.gov/research/software/source/brownie.zip
A PC DOS executable version of the program can be downloaded from:
ftp://pwrcftpr.er.usgs.gov/research/software/brownie.zip.
The DOS executable version of BROWNIE (brownie.exe) must be run in an MSDOS
window under WINDOWS. Input should be created as a 'ascii text' file using one
of the two formats described below. Output will be displayed on the screen by
default, but should be redirected to an output file for evaluation.
Two sample input data files are included in the zip archive:
BROWNIE.DAT is an example data file using the old format where the recovery
matrix and banding vector were aligned by column. Each entry in the recovery
matrix occupies 4 columns and entries in the banding vector occupies 5
columns. Blanks are read in as zeros. The first line contains the title
(alphanumeric description of the data). The second line contains the number of
years of banding (columns 1-3), the number of years of recovery (columns 4-6),
followed by a 4-digit number indicating the first year of banding. Following
line 2 are lines making up the recovery matrix (4 columns each), then the
banding vector for adults. The recovery matrix and banding vector for young
birds follows those for adults. The banding vector consists of the number
banded each year (5 columns each - right justified) with a maximum of 16
entries per line. Note in this example that when there are 10,000 or more
bandings in a year, there is no space separating the numbers in adjacent
years.
BROWNIE.DA2 is an example data file which uses the modifications to BROWNIE.
By entering 'free-form-input' on the parameter card (the second line of
input), free form input can be used for the recovery matrix and banding vector
(ie. numbers are separated by a space, and don't have to be placed in specific
columns). The numbers in the second line still have to be placed in specific
columns.
To run BROWNIE on the example input file BROWNIE.DAT and send output to the
printer, open an MSDOS window, change to the directory (folder) where program
BROWNIE resides, then type:
BROWNIE <brownie.dat >prn
If you have questions, problems or comments with this program please contact:
Jim Hines, Computer Specialist - USGS
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
11510 American Holly Dr. Rm 201
Laurel, Md. 20708-4017
Phone:(301)(301)497-5661
fax:(301)497-5667
internet: jim_hines%40usgs.gov