
doi: 10.2307/2533142
Summary: I discuss the estimation of the abundance of a biological population, its logarithm, and the variances of these estimates, from a sequential sampling scheme with minimum and maximum sample sizes. Observations are counts of organisms in randomly chosen ``packets'' such as cores, branches, bushes, and so forth. For preassigned values \(m\), \(n_1\) and \(n_2\), samples are taken until (a) at least \(n_1\) packets and (b) either \(m\) positive packets or a total of \(n_2\) packets have been observed. Abundance estimates are based on an estimate of the fraction of positive packets given by \textit{W. K. Kremers} [Technometrics 29, 109-112 (1987; Zbl 0608.62012)], with a modification to avoid estimates of zero. Estimates of log abundance are given by log (estimated abundance) with an adjustment for bias due to the concavity of the log function. Two adjustments are considered, one based on Taylor series expansion (the delta method) and the other on the bootstrap. These techniques are also used to estimate the variance of the estimate of log(abundance). Simulations suggest that both methods are better than not adjusting, though the gain is small compared to the standard deviation of the estimates. The bootstrap estimates are less biased than the Taylor series estimates but have larger variances, so that the Taylor series estimates have smaller mean squared errors. The variances of the sequential estimates of log(abundance) tend to be only weakly dependent on the true abundance.
abundance, bias, Sequential estimation, sequential sampling, zeros, delta method, bootstrap, species abundance, Applications of statistics to biology and medical sciences; meta analysis
abundance, bias, Sequential estimation, sequential sampling, zeros, delta method, bootstrap, species abundance, Applications of statistics to biology and medical sciences; meta analysis
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 2 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Average | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
