Implications of improving resighting estimates
Understanding the reason for the non-detection of species is crucial to
make behavioral and ecological inferences. In our study, HSV increased
the resighting rate substantially in A. junius but not R.
multicolor . This means that in the former species the marked
individuals were present at the site but the observers were not able to
detect them with the naked eye (false negative), whereas in the latter
species the low resighting rate under both CV and CV+HSV was likely due
to the absence of the individuals at the site. This interspecific
difference in resighting rate is probably due to the difference in adult
behavior where R. multicolor might be more dispersive thanA. junius (Conrad, Willson, Harvey,
Thomas, & Sherratt, 1999). Furthermore, our analysis of A.
junius capture history showed that HSV might reveal sexual differences
in resighting rates that could not be detected by CV. This discrepancy
may lead to erroneous inferences about species behaviour and the
dismissal of sexual differences in species movement and habitat use
(Stoks, 2001;
Fujiwara, Anderson, Neubert, & Caswell,
2006). Moreover, exhaustive estimates of resighting rates may provide
more power to detect traits that drives reproductive success in
particular and evolution in general. In many insects, single individuals
rarely land in breeding sites, whereas breeding pairs perch to copulate
and lay eggs. This behavioral difference between breeding and
non-breeding individuals poses a challenge for researchers interested in
characterizing the fitness landscape and identifying how trait values
correlate with fitness. Also, since resighting rate is an important
component in demographic models, enhancing the estimation of resighting
rates may lead to a more accurate evaluation of population size
(Tufto et al., 2012), and ultimately to
more effective management of wild populations
(Hammill & Clements, 2020). Therefore,
the improvement of our estimates of resighting rates by HSV might
resolve many issues when addressing ecological, conservation, and
evolutionary questions.