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U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Data Series 304

Supplemental Materials for the Analysis of Capture-Recapture Data for Polar Bears in Western Hudson Bay, Canada, 1984–2004

By Eric V. Regehr, Nicholas J. Lunn, Steven C. Amstrup, and Ian Stirling

Abstract

Regehr and others (2007, Survival and population size of polar bears in western Hudson Bay in relation to earlier sea ice breakup: Journal of Wildlife Management, v. 71, no. 8, p. 2673-2683) evaluated survival in relation to climatic conditions and estimated population size for polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in western Hudson Bay, Canada. Here, we provide supplemental materials for the analyses in Regehr and others (2007). We demonstrate how tag-return data from harvested polar bears were used to adjust estimates of total survival for human-caused mortality. We describe the sex and age composition of the capture and harvest samples, and provide results for goodness-of-fit tests applied to capture-recapture models. We also describe the capture-recapture model selection procedure and the structure of the most supported model, which was used to estimate survival and population size.

Contents

Abstract
Introduction
Natural Survival
Sex and Age Composition
Goodness of Fit
Capture-Recapture Analysis
Summary
References Cited

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Send questions or comments about this report to the first author, E.V. Regehr, (907) 786-3827.

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