Research Interests

• Statistical theory, methods and analysis for wildlife research
• Theory and analysis of mark-recapture and radio-telemetry data
• Design and analysis of wildlife monitoring programmes

Click here for Richard’s home pages.

Research Interests

• Time series analysis
• Statistical climatology

For more details and publications see Laimonis’s staff page.

My research interests are in Statistical Ecology and Matrix Population Models. I also act as a consultant in these two areas, through my company Proteus Research & Consulting. I have published 63 papers and edited four proceedings, the latter being for the conference series on Statistics in Ecology and Environmental Monitoring, which we have run every three years at Otago since 1993.

Statistical Ecology

As with any of the life sciences, statistical methods have a crucial role to play in understanding and managing ecosystems, biodiversity and individual species. My work in this area is motivated by projects I have worked on as a consultant for the Department of Conservation. An area of interest that flourishes in our department is mark-recapture methods, particularly as Richard Barker is internationally reknowned for his work on these methods.

Matrix Population Models

A natural complement to my work in statistical ecology is that on matrix population models. These are being increasingly used by conservation biologists and managers to help make decisions about protected or pest species, often in the face of sparse data. This area involves a combination of mathematics, statistics and computing. Often some useful rules-of-thumb can be derived using just mathematics, while at other times complicated stochastic models are used in large-scale simulations that require statistical concepts at both the input and the output stage. See more about this part of my work at the Otago Daily Times (2nd July 2003).

Potential Careers

There is a shortage of population modellers in New Zealand. For example, the Seafood Industry Council often find that they cannot fill their vacancies for fish stock modellers. Recently, the Department of Conservation has decided to fund positions in this area. Overseas, statistical ecologists and population modellers are often in demand, particularly in the United States.

Research Projects

Kia Mau Te Titi Mo Ake Tonu Atu - “Keep The Titi Forever”

The Maori harvest of titi (“muttonbirds”) chicks from islands off Rakiura (Stewart Island) is of great economic, social and cultural importance. The muttonbirders initiated this study to ensure that the birds remain plentiful for their mokopuna (grandchildren). My interest has been in the use of population modelling to set research priorities, and of mark-recapture methods to measure survival rates. Some of the work has naturally lead on to generic papers in population modelling.

Hector’s Dolphin

My work on these dolphins started in 1992, and has involved collaboration with Steve Dawson (Marine Science), Liz Slooten (Zoology) and graduate students in the Marine Mammal Laboratory at Otago. My primary interest has been in helping assess the risk to the population around Banks Peninsula, using both mark-recapture methods and matrix population modelling. In addition, motivated by our work on Hector’s dolphins in the Catlins, Lars Bejder, Stefan Bräger and I developed a new method of testing for random association in social animals: this work is continuing, with new research on a method for comparing the strength of association in two or more populations.

Hutton’s Shearwater

My interest here was in collaborating with Richard Cuthbert (then a PhD student in Zoology) on using a population model to help direct conservation research effort.

Yellow-eyed Penguins

I worked with Peter Moore, of the Department of Conservation, on estimation of abundance of these creatures on Campbell Island, modifying standard mark-recapture methods to a non-standard situation.

Patake (Brown Teal)

Darryl MacKenzie and I recently assessed the national monitoring protocol for this species, and made recommendations on the necessary sample sizes needed to achieve a reasonable level of precision in the data to be collected.

Rabbits

Estimates of rabbit abundance in farming areas of the South Island are needed in order to assess the effects of control operations, and of the introduction of RCD. I have acted as a consultant on three such projects; for Ecosystems Consultants, Otago Regional Council and the Department of Conservation.

Hooker’s Sea Lion

Bycatch of Hooker’s sea lion (Phocarctos hookeri) during squid fishing around the Auckland Islands has been closely monitored for a number of years. I have worked on a number of projects associated with the management of the fishery, for both the Ministry of Fisheries and Department of Conservation. These include assessments of:

• The effectiveness of a sea lion ejection device, designed to help reduce bycatch
• Seasonal differences in locations of Hooker’s sea lions, using randomisation-based multivariate analysis of variance. Our results indicated a consistent summer vs winter difference in the mean location of the sea lions.
• For the last few years, Ari Samaranayaka (PhD student in Maths and Statistics) and I have contributed to a Department of Conservation Technical Working Group looking at the impact of the fishery on the sea lion population. Our work has involved helping to assess the reliability of a population model as means of managing the fishery.

Assessing the Reliability of Ferret-Monitoring Techniques

I have recently worked with Henrik Moller of Ecosystems Consultants analysing data on the relationship between indices of ferret abundance and a more reliable, but more expensive, estimate obtained using mark-recapture. Our analysis involved use of inverse prediction in order to determine the amount of monitoring that would be required to achieve a specified level of accuracy and precision.

Modelling of Black Petrels to Assess Population Status

With Christine Hunter and Paul Scofield (then PhD students at Otago), I reviewed the literature and data available on Black Petrels (Procellaria parkinsoni) in order to assess its adequacy for developing a population model. Our results suggested that future research effort should focus on reducing the bias and increasing the precision of the estimates of breeder, pre-breeder and juvenile survival.

Preliminary Population Model for Wandering Albatross

With Christine Hunter and Paul Scofield (then PhD students at Otago), I reviewed the literature on the five wandering albatross species, in order to assess its relevance in developing a population model. We also carried out a sensitivity analysis of the model in order to help guide future research effort.

Use of Stereo-Video for Visual Reef Fish Surveys

With Euan Harvey (then a PhD student at Otago), I have worked on the precision and accuracy of visual surveys of reef fish using stereo-video. Our results indicate that use of this technology will greatly improve our ability to detect changes in population-wide changes in fish length.