CAPTABLE Program Description

CAPTABLE is an extremely versatile, yet easy-to-use, DOS computer program that provides biologists and wildlife managers with a powerful array of techniques for analyzing their capture-recapture data sets. CAPTABLE has been used to describe the population biologies of numerous animal species, to detect changes in population numbers between generations, and to provide census estimates of rare and endangered species as part of their management and conservation.

CAPTABLE Features include:

• Preparation of capture history and capture frequency tables in various formats
  
• Calculation of population census estimates and associated parameters using statistical models such as Lincoln Index, Bailey's Triple Catch, Manly-Parr, Jackson, Fisher-Ford, Jolly-Seber, Craig, and Edwards-Eberhardt
  
• Tests for basic capture-recapture model assumptions, including equal catchability, marking effects, capture vs. estimated sex ratios, and joint-residence catchability
  
• Calculation of survival rates and recapture decay plot values
  
• Calculation of vagility and home range parameters
  
• Cross-tabulation analysis
  
• Data file compatibility with other PC-based DOS programs
  • CAPTURE by Gary White, http://www.cnr.colostate.edu/~gwhite/software.html
• JOLLY by Jim Hines, http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/software.html
• POPAN by Neil Arnason, http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~popan for further analysis of capture-recapture data

As many as five user-defined attributes (e.g., sex, color morph, etc.) may be associated with the capture history for a particular individual. Prior to calculation of population estimates, assumption tests, or other analysis, data may be reorganized by one or more of the attributes to analyze only males, only females, males of a particular color morph, etc.

Types of Data Utilized by CAPTABLE

CAPTABLE has flexible input requirements, accepting data from disk files of three types: raw capture records, capture tables, and capture summaries.

CAPTABLE can read raw capture records from files created in an XBASE format (as used by dBASE and many other commercially available database programs). Alternatively, CAPTABLE can also read raw capture records from ASCII text files. Capture tables and capture summaries, on the other hand, must be stored in ASCII text files for use with CAPTABLE.

CAPTABLE's System Requirements

CAPTABLE runs under MS-DOS (version 3.3 or greater) on PC computers.
A Windows version of CAPTABLE is being developed. Watch our web site for news.

If you are interested in a copy of the CAPTABLE program, please send an e-mail to Richard Arnold at bugdctr@comcast.net

Photo by: R.Arnold
Mitchell'ss Satyr Butterfly

Photo by: R.Arnold
San Bruno Elfin Butterfly

Photo by: R.Arnold
Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle