ABSTRACT
In this chapter we consider data relating to open populations, where we have estimates of the size of the population over time. In other words, we consider data relating to population sizes, where there are births, deaths and movements occurring throughout the data-collection process. For simplicity we shall refer to this type of data as count data. Generally, within open populations a number of different questions may be of interest. For example, this may include estimating the size of populations that may not be directly observable (Thomas et al. 2005); estimating demographic parameters, such as the survival probabilities and/or fecundity rates of the population of interest; or determining the underlying factors that may be driving an increasing or decreasing trend in population size. The alternative case of closed populations is considered in Chapter 11.
