Issue 4.6 is now available online! This month Methods covers statistics, movement, community ecology, ecophysiology and demography. There are also 2 freely available applications articles: SimAdapt: an individual-based genetic model for simulating landscape management impacts on populations, by François Rebaudo et al., and nupoint: An R package for density estimation from point transects in the presence of nonuniform animal density, by Martin Cox et al.
About the cover: Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, shown in this image, form a vital link in the Southern Ocean food web between phytoplankton and many higher-order predators. Their swarming behaviour makes them amenable to observation with underwater acoustic techniques. However, estimation of density from these observations is not straightforward because changes in detectability with increasing distance from the acoustic detector can mask changes in density with increasing depth. Conventional distance sampling techniques are designed to model changes in detectability with distance, but not changes in density. The nupoint R package implements a variant of distance sampling that uses a swarm’s angle from vertical, in addition to its distance from the detector, to separate density and detectability, and so can obtain estimates of swarm distribution that are uncontaminated by changes in detectability. Estimates of the vertical distribution of swarm density can be useful in examining, for example, habitat preference or avoidance behaviour.
Image credited to: Steve Nicol.
To keep up to date with Methods newest content, have a look at our Accepted Articles and Early View articles, which will be included in forthcoming issues.
Methods Blog 