Spatial Capture-Recapture

Abstract

In this chapter, we briefly review the major themes that tie the book together, emphasizing the importance of space in both ecological and sampling processes. We discuss the future of spatial capture-recapture models in ecological research and suggest that they will increase in importance and largely replace non-spatial capture-recapture models. This prediction stems from the fact that, although we have demonstrated many potential uses for SCR models, many more await to be developed. For instance, we foresee models to describe and predict the consequences of individual interactions, such as competition and territoriality. Another exciting extension is to embed explicit movement models into SCR models for inference about movement behavior, and to improve the description of the observation process. SCR models are also lagging behind non-spatial models in some important ways. For instance, at the time of this writing, no one has devised methods for accomodating misidentification, and very few methods exist for combining different sources of data. Other important extensions that we briefly cover include models for gregarious species and models for single-catch traps. Each of these extensions should be achievable, and headway has already been made in some cases. We hope this book will inspire more rapid progress, and motivate new ideas and perspectives that will ultimately increase the usefulness of SCR models for addressing important problems in ecology and conservation.