Effects of model formulation on estimates of health in individual right whales (Eubalaena glacialis)
Schick, R.S.; Kraus, S.D.; Rolland, R.M.; Knowlton, A.R.; Hamilton, P.K.; Pettis, H.M.; Thomas, L.; Harwood, J.; Clark, J.R. (2016). Effects of model formulation on estimates of health in individual right whales (Eubalaena glacialis), in: Popper, A.N. et al. The effects of noise on aquatic life II. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 875: pp. 977-985. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2981-8_121 In: Popper, A.N.; Hawkins, A. (Ed.) (2016). The effects of noise on aquatic life II. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 875. Springer Science+Business Media, Inc: New York. ISBN 978-1-4939-2980-1. xxx, 1292 pp., more In: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. Springer: Berlin. ISSN 0065-2598; e-ISSN 2214-8019, more |  |
| Keywords | Bayesian
Missing data
Properties > Body condition
Marine/Coastal | | Author keywords | Process error; Photo identification |
| Authors | | Top | - Schick, R.S.
- Kraus, S.D.
- Rolland, R.M.
| - Knowlton, A.R.
- Hamilton, P.K.
- Pettis, H.M.
| - Thomas, L.
- Harwood, J.
- Clark, J.R.
|
| Abstract | Right whales are vulnerable to many sources of anthropogenic disturbance including ship strikes, entanglement with fishing gear, and anthropogenic noise. The effect of these factors on individual health is unclear. A statistical model using photographic evidence of health was recently built to infer the true or hidden health of individual right whales. However, two important prior assumptions about the role of missing data and unexplained variance on the estimates were not previously assessed. Here we tested these factors by varying prior assumptions and model formulation. We found sensitivity to each assumption and used the output to make guidelines on future model formulation. |
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