Estimating cetacean population trends from static acoustic monitoring data using Paired Year Ratio Assessment (PYRA)

The cetacean conservationist is often faced with evaluating population trends from abundance data that are either sparse or recorded at different times in different years. The presence of diel or seasonal patterns in the data together with unplanned gaps is often problematic. Such data are typical o...

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Main Authors: Eric P. M. Grist, Trevelyan J. McKinley, Saptarshi Das, Tom Tregenza, Aileen Jeffries, Nicholas Tregenza
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8929582/?tool=EBI
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author Eric P. M. Grist
Trevelyan J. McKinley
Saptarshi Das
Tom Tregenza
Aileen Jeffries
Nicholas Tregenza
author_facet Eric P. M. Grist
Trevelyan J. McKinley
Saptarshi Das
Tom Tregenza
Aileen Jeffries
Nicholas Tregenza
author_sort Eric P. M. Grist
collection DOAJ
description The cetacean conservationist is often faced with evaluating population trends from abundance data that are either sparse or recorded at different times in different years. The presence of diel or seasonal patterns in the data together with unplanned gaps is often problematic. Such data are typical of those obtained from static acoustic monitoring. We present a simple and transparent non-parametric trend evaluation method, ‘Paired Year Ratio Assessment (PYRA)’ that uses only whole days of data wherever they are present in each of successive pairs of periods of 365 days. We provide a quantitative comparison of the performance of PYRA with traditional generalised additive models (GAMS) and nonparametric randomisation tests that require a greater level of skill and experience for both application and interpretation. We conclude that PYRA is a powerful tool, particularly in the context of identifying population trends which is often the main aim of conservation-targeted acoustic monitoring.
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spelling doaj.art-02ec0b75c4834de380beb880f7cd68342022-12-21T22:50:03ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01173Estimating cetacean population trends from static acoustic monitoring data using Paired Year Ratio Assessment (PYRA)Eric P. M. GristTrevelyan J. McKinleySaptarshi DasTom TregenzaAileen JeffriesNicholas TregenzaThe cetacean conservationist is often faced with evaluating population trends from abundance data that are either sparse or recorded at different times in different years. The presence of diel or seasonal patterns in the data together with unplanned gaps is often problematic. Such data are typical of those obtained from static acoustic monitoring. We present a simple and transparent non-parametric trend evaluation method, ‘Paired Year Ratio Assessment (PYRA)’ that uses only whole days of data wherever they are present in each of successive pairs of periods of 365 days. We provide a quantitative comparison of the performance of PYRA with traditional generalised additive models (GAMS) and nonparametric randomisation tests that require a greater level of skill and experience for both application and interpretation. We conclude that PYRA is a powerful tool, particularly in the context of identifying population trends which is often the main aim of conservation-targeted acoustic monitoring.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8929582/?tool=EBI
spellingShingle Eric P. M. Grist
Trevelyan J. McKinley
Saptarshi Das
Tom Tregenza
Aileen Jeffries
Nicholas Tregenza
Estimating cetacean population trends from static acoustic monitoring data using Paired Year Ratio Assessment (PYRA)
PLoS ONE
title Estimating cetacean population trends from static acoustic monitoring data using Paired Year Ratio Assessment (PYRA)
title_full Estimating cetacean population trends from static acoustic monitoring data using Paired Year Ratio Assessment (PYRA)
title_fullStr Estimating cetacean population trends from static acoustic monitoring data using Paired Year Ratio Assessment (PYRA)
title_full_unstemmed Estimating cetacean population trends from static acoustic monitoring data using Paired Year Ratio Assessment (PYRA)
title_short Estimating cetacean population trends from static acoustic monitoring data using Paired Year Ratio Assessment (PYRA)
title_sort estimating cetacean population trends from static acoustic monitoring data using paired year ratio assessment pyra
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8929582/?tool=EBI
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