Models allowing for age-dependent survival rates for band-return data

Seber [1970] and Robson and Youngs [1971] developed a statistical model for a tag-recapture experiment on an exploited animal population in which banded or tagged individuals are released into a population each year, and the bands from harvested individuals are returned by hunters or fishermen in following years. Consideration of certain biological and ecologicw models for an experimental situation where data are recorded separately for birds released as adults and as young-of-the-year. In particular, the effect of different survival rates of young birds, and the effect of migration on reporting rates, are taken into account in the models presented in this study. Maximum likelihood estimators of parameters are derived under the different models, and procedures are developed to discriminate between alternative models as well as provide non-discriminant goodness-of-fit tests.