Mark Otto

• Master of Statistics
• Statistical Scientist at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Methods are being developed to capitalize on citizen science data for research and monitoring, but these data are rarely used within established decision-making frameworks of wildlife agencies. Citizen science data are often collected at higher resolution and extent than targeted monitoring programs, and may provide complementary information. Here,...

The development and installation of renewable energy comes with environmental cost, including the death of wildlife. These costs occur locally, and seem small compared to the global loss of biodiversity. However, failure to acknowledge uncertainties around these costs affects local conservation, and may lead to the loss of populations or species. W...

The research and conservation community has successfully harnessed the wealth of ecological knowledge found in unprecedented volumes of citizen science (CS) data world‐wide. However, few examples exist of the use of CS data to directly inform policy. Current examples of applications of CS data mainly stem from programs that are restricted in scope...

The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is a Species of Special Concern in the State of Maine, USA, due to declines along the Atlantic coast since the mid-1980s. To determine if this decline was statewide, an aerial survey was conducted from 1 May to 18 June 2015 to estimate the breeding population using a stratified dualframe design accounting for i...

Mentoring is an extremely valuable activity for both individuals and organizations. Mentoring within organizations can develop and integrate employees into their corporate culture. Mentoring outside the mentees' work groups or through professional development organizations can give broader perspective and support, especially in times of transition....

http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/pdf/management/EagleRuleRevisions-StatusReport.pdf

Wind power is a major candidate in the search for clean, renewable energy. Beyond the technical and economic challenges of wind energy development are environmental issues that may restrict its growth. Avian fatalities due to collisions with rotating turbine blades are a leading concern and there is considerable uncertainty surrounding avian collis...

Waterfowl are monitored in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States with 2 surveys: a transect survey from fixed-wing aircraft and a plot survey conducted from helicopters. The surveys vary in extent, but overlap exists in a core area of 9 strata covering portions of all provinces from Ontario east to Newfoundland. We estimated population...

The post-delisting monitoring plan for bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) roposed use of a dual-frame sample design, in which sampling of known nest sites in combination with additional area-based sampling is used to estimate total number of nesting bald eagle pairs. Watts and Duerr (2010) used data from repeated observations of bald eagle nest...

Abstract We evaluated double-observer methods for aerial surveys as a means to adjust counts of waterfowl for incomplete detection. We conducted our study in eastern Canada and the northeast United States utilizing 3 aerial-survey crews flying 3 different types of fixed-wing aircraft. We reconciled counts of front- and rear-seat observers immediate...

This report summarizes information about the status of duck populations and wetland habitats during spring 2007, focusing on areas encompassed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFWS) and Canadian Wildlife Services’ (CWS) Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey. This report does not include information from surveys conducted by State or Provi...

This report summarizes information about the status of duck populations and wetland habitats during spring 2005, focusing on areas encompassed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFWS) and Canadian Wildlife Services’ (CWS) Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey. The estimates do not include information from surveys conducted by State or Provi...

This report summarizes preliminary information about the status of duck populations and their habitats during spring 2001, and focuses on areas encompassed by the Breeding Waterfowl and Habitat Survey. These numbers are preliminary, and do not include information from state or provincial surveys. The traditional survey area includes strata 1-18, 20...

This report summarizes preliminary information about the status of duck populations and their habitats during spring 2000, focuses on areas encompassed by the Breeding Waterfowl and Habitat Survey. These numbers are preliminary, and do not include survey information from state or provincial surveys. The traditional survey area includes strata 1-18,...

X-12-ARIMA is the Census Bureau's new seasonal-adjustment program. it provides four types of enhancements to X-11-ARIMA-(1) alternative seasonal, trading-day, and holiday effect adjustment capabilities that include adjustments for effects estimated with user-defined regressors; additional seasonal and trend filter options; and an alternative season...

X-12-ARIMA is the Census Bureau's new seasonal-adjustment program. It provides four types of enhancements to X-ll-ARIMA—(1) alternative seasonal, trading-day, and holiday effect adjustment capabilities that include adjustments for effects estimated with user-defined regressors; additional seasonal and trend filter options; and an alternative season...

An important problem in line transect sampling is that objects or point clusters of objects of different sizes have different sighting probabilities. In a recent paper Drummer and McDonald (1987, Biometrics 43, 13-21) develop a bivariate sighting function. Their function is dependent on perpendicular distance and object size. One important special...

Three Autoregressive Integrated Moving Averages (ARIMA) forecast procedures for Census Bureau X-11 concurrent seasonal adjustment were empirically tested. Forty time series from three Census Bureau economic divisions (business, construction, and industry) were analyzed. Forecasts were obtained from fitted seasonal ARIMA models augmented with regres...

This series contains research reports, written by or in cooperation with staff members of the Statistical Research Division, whose content may be of interest to the general statistical research community. The views re-flected in these reports are not necessarily those of the Census Bureau nor do they necessarily represent Census Bureau statistical...

In this paper the problem of finding robust estimators of population size in closed K-sample capture-recapture experiments is considered. Particular attention is paid to models where heterogeneity of capture probabilities is allowed. First, a general estimation procedure is given which does not depend on any assumptions about the form of the distri...

We present a method for estimating regression models with autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) time series errors. The method maximizes the likelihood for different groups of parameters (AR, regression, and MA) separately within each iteration. The idea is to gain numerical efficiency by using generalized least squares (GLS) to maximize...

as it is called, involves the comparison of the "somewhat independent" adjustments of a given month's datum obtained by applying the adjustment procedure to a sequence of three