ABSTRACT
The topic of population estimation received only rudimentary coverage in past publications summarizing the ecotoxicology of amphibians and reptiles (e.g., Sparling et al. 2000; Linder et al. 2003). Studies designed to evaluate chemicals and chemical mixtures on amphibians and reptiles in natural or seminatural field settings were relatively new during the preparation of the first edition of this book, but their importance in the interpretation of laboratory results has resulted in an increase in field experiments and observational studies (e.g., Boone and Bridges 2003; Davidson 2004). Studies that integrate both field and laboratory components may provide the most powerful inference about the impacts of various stressors on reptile and amphibian populations. With this recent surge of field studies, there is a critical need for the development and application of rigorous population estimation methods. In this chapter, we review the latest methods for estimating populations and related parameters and provide relevant references in which these techniques have been successfully applied to amphibians and reptiles.
