Hi Mriganka, so good to know that the reintroduction is going well! A great resource to estimate  survival is program MARK http://www.phidot.org/software/mark/, for this you would need capture/mark/recapture data, this means you need to id each individual, but I assume you only have that for the 11 radio collared tigers? What kind of data do you have from the 4 years of study?

I agree, I would definitely use MARK. It can implement a wide range of models for CMR data and it can estimate all the parameters you need (although software alternative exists... maybe someone else may provide other insights into these other programs) but you should be aware that MARK is quite complex to use... Anyway, the software guide (Program MARK - A gentle introduction, http://www.phidot.org/software/mark/docs/book/) will guide you through all steps, you just need to take all the time needed to study it in depth... It is really a step by step guide both from a theoretical and practical point of view.

In R, the RMark package provides a collection of R functions that can be used as an interface to MARK for analysis of capture-recapture data. I also know about the 'marked' package by J. Laake, but I have not had a chance to try it out, yet.

See paper by Karanth et al. (2006; Ecology 87(11), 2925–2937) for an example of CR modelling (using MARK) for a tiger population.

If you are using camera-trap for monitoring, maybe you can use a open models capture recapture. You can find several examples and R+JAGS codes in the Kery&Schaub book Bayesian Population Analysis using WinBUGS.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/book/9780123870209

Hi

Given you know the number of individual tigers i would keep your analyses simple and use basic population life history parameters, no need to over-complicate with CMR programs. Once you are uncertain of how many individuals there are then it would be worth pursuing CMR models using detection functions.

I assume you have data on the survival of collared animals over time. Then you could use Known Fate Model in MARK to estimate survival rate of tigers from your radio-tracking data. You must be aware though, if you have only collared adult tigers, the estimated survival rate will obviously not apply to cubs or juveniles, and you'll need different sets of data to estimate these. 

Indicators of population

As a group of individuals populations have a number of specific indicators that are not inherent in each separate individual. Thus there are two groups of quantitative indicators - static and dynamic.

Population status at the moment of time characterized by static indicators. These include the following.

Number - the total number of individuals on the allocated site or in a given volume. This population rate is never constant, it depends on the ratio of the intensity of reproduction (fertility and mortality.

Population density - the average number of individuals (or biomass) per unit area or volume occupied by the population space. Population density is also variable, it depends on the number. In the event of an increase in the last population density does not increase only in the case if possible settling it, i.e. the extension of the area.

Dynamic indicators of population include fertility, mortality, growth and growth rate of the population.

The birth rate (fertility) - the number of new individuals introduced per unit of time in the reproduction. Living organisms possess great ability to reproduce. It is characterized by the so-called biotic potential, representing the rate at which when continuous reproduction (only theoretically possible under ideal environmental conditions for the existence of) individuals of a particular species can cover the globe evenly. This is an important, albeit conditional, the index has different values. So, for elephants, he is 0.3 m/s, and for some microorganisms of hundreds of meters per second. Amazing fact: one dandelion in less than 10 years are able to populate a surface, if all the seeds will germinate. In practice, this enormous fecundity never implemented.

The mortality of the population - the number of deaths in a population of individuals in a certain period of time. Like fertility, mortality varies depending on the environmental conditions, the age and condition of the population; the death rate is expressed in percentage of the initial or most often to average it.

Population growth - the difference between fertility and mortality; growth can be positive, zero and negative.

The growth rate of the population - average increase its per unit of time.

Dear all,

Thank you all for answers. Here I want to clarify few doubt about this small growing population. Only one male tiger and 5 female tiger was reintroduced with fitting VHF and GPS collar. They were monitored 24*7 bases since 2009 to till date. During 2010 two of those reintroduced female produced first litter. The first female with 4 cubs and second one with 4 cubs again. Among them 2 cubs expired due to unknown reason within approx. 10 days of recruitment. After 18 months when they became sub adult, All of them were radio collared except one. This non collared sub adult was frequently seen within National Park. And it was established its home range within park. In between All females produced at least 2- 3 litter. Due to presence of radio collar fitted in each female, we could able to monitor and gather information about all stages of cub survival and mortality and cause of each mortality events. It was very difficult to monitor each sub adult individual who were not radio collared at the end of 2011. To understand how many of them were dispersed, we adopted camera trap sampling with close capture recapture frame work from 2012 summer to 2014 summer. Camera trap sampling was intensive and was done for entire national park and this effort was for 2 times per year. We have identified all unique stripe marks of all individual including all cubs and sub adults.

In this context I would like to calculate all demographic parameters which I have mentioned earlier.

To, Ana R. Patrício, Valentina La Morgia, Devcharan Jathanna and Kaori Yokochi: Thanks for your suggestion. I shall go through MARK manual and karanth 2006 paper and get back to you soon and I also thank to Beate Proske and Jose Jimenez and Olesya Anatolyevna for your book suggestion and explanation of terms used in demography.

To, Sean Haughian: I think non-invasive genetic sampling at this stage will not answer all of my questions. We have already done basic population genetics of this reintroduced population using blood samples and scat samples.

To, Dorian Moro: Here each individual’s fate were known except few dispersing sub adults. Basic population life history parameters could be an option. I request you to send/ suggest some reading material which is freely available online.

To, Beate Proske: Life table can be calculated for small population of approx. 30 individuals (which include cubs, sub adults and Adults)?