James Nichols, Ph.D.
Dr. Jim Nichols conducts research on animal population dynamics and management
Recent Accomplishments
Education
- B.S. Wake Forest University, Biology, 1971
- M.S. Louisiana State University, Wildlife Management, 1973
- Ph.D. Michigan State University, Wildlife Ecology, 1976
Professional Studies/Experience
- Adaptive management and assessment of habitat changes on migratory birds
- Development of models of mallard population dynamics for adaptive harvest management
- Development of methods to estimate parameters associated with animal population dynamics
- Statistical methods for species richness estimation
- Technical Assistance -Tiger Monitoring and Population Research
- Development of methods for estimating patch occupancy and patch-dynamic parameters from detection-nondetection survey data
- Development of methods to estimate species richness and community-dynamic parameters from species list data
Mentorship/Outreach
Professional societies/affiliations/committees/editorial boardsScientific/Oral Presentations, Abstracts
Honors, awards, recognition, elected offices
- 2005 - U.S. Presidential Rank Award (Meritorious Senior Professional)
- 2004 - U.S. Geological Survey Meritorious Service Award
- 2004 - IFAS Scholar Award, University of Florida
- 1998 - Promoted to Senior Scientist, U.S. Geological Survey
- 1991 - The George W. Snedecor Award of the American Statistical Association
- 1991 - The Wildlife Society's Wildlife Publication Award for Monograph
- 1984 - Southeastern Section of the Wildlife Society, Outstanding Publication Award
Scientific/Oral Presentations, Abstracts
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 401
Consideraciones para la estimacion de abundancia de poblaciones de mamiferos. [Considerations for the estimation of abundance of mammal populations.]
Estimation of abundance of mammal populations is essential for monitoring programs and for many ecological investigations. The first step for any study of variation in mammal abundance over space or time is to define the objectives of the study and how and why abundance data are to be used. The data used to estimate abundance are count statistics in the form of counts of animals or their signs.
Authors
R.S. Walker, A.J. Novare, J. D. Nichols
Annual survival and site fidelity of Stellar's Eiders molting along the Alaska Peninsula
Populations of Steller's eiders (Polysticta stelleri) molting and wintering along the Alaska Peninsula have declined since the 1960's. We captured and marked a large sample of Steller's eiders molting in 2 lagoons along the Alaska Peninsula between 1975-97. We used mark-recapture analysis techniques to estimate annual survival and movement probabilities within and among lagoons for male and female
Authors
Paul L. Flint, Margaret R. Petersen, Christian P. Dau, James E. Hines, James D. Nichols
COMDYN: Software to study the dynamics of animal communities using a capture-recapture approach
COMDYN is a set of programs developed for estimation of parameters associated with community dynamics using count data from two locations or time periods. It is Internet-based, allowing remote users either to input their own data, or to use data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey for analysis. COMDYN allows probability of detection to vary among species and among locations and time per
Authors
J. E. Hines, T. Boulinier, J. D. Nichols, J.R. Sauer, K. H. Pollock
Demographic parameter estimation for experimental landscape studies on small mammal populations
No abstract available.
Authors
J. D. Nichols, C.J. Coffman
Demography of forest birds in Panama: How do transients affect estimates of survival rates?
Estimates of annual survival rates of neotropical birds have proven controversial. Traditionally, tropical birds were thought to have high survival rates for their size, but analyses of a multispecies assemblage from Panama by Karr et al. (1990) provided a counterexample to that view. One criticism of that study has been that the estimates were biased by transient birds captured only once as they
Authors
J. D. Brawn, J.R. Karr, J. D. Nichols, W.D. Robinson
Annual survival of Snail Kites in Florida: Radio telemetry versus capture-resighting data
We estimated annual survival of Snail Kites (Rostrhamus sociabilis) in Florida using the Kaplan-Meier estimator with data from 271 radio-tagged birds over a three-year period and capture-recapture (resighting) models with data from 1,319 banded birds over a six-year period. We tested the hypothesis that survival differed among three age classes using both data sources. We tested additional hypothe
Authors
R.E. Bennetts, V.J. Dreitz, W.M. Kitchens, J. E. Hines, J. D. Nichols
Quantitative studies of bird movement: A methodological review
The past several years have seen development of a number of statistical models and methods for drawing inferences about bird movement using data from marked individuals. It can be difficult to keep up with this rapid development of new methods, so our purpose here is to categorize and review methods for drawing inferences about avian movement. We also outline recommendations about future work de
Authors
J. D. Nichols, A. Kaiser
Modeling data from double-tagging experiments to estimate heterogeneous rates of tag shedding in lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)
Data from mark-recapture studies are used to estimate population rates such as exploitation, survival, and growth. Many of these applications assume negligible tag loss, so tag shedding can be a significant problem. Various tag shedding models have been developed for use with data from double-tagging experiments, including models to estimate constant instantaneous rates, time-dependent rates, an
Authors
Mary C. Fabrizio, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, Bruce L. Swanson, Stephen T. Schram
Are adult nonbreeders prudent parents? The kittiwake model
Understanding evolutionary consequences of intermittent breeding (nonbreeding in individuals that previously bred) requires investigation of the relationships between adult breeding state and two demographic parameters: survival probability and subsequent breeding probability. One major difficulty raised by comparing the demographic features of breeders and nonbreeders as estimated from capture–re
Authors
Emmanuelle Cam, James E. Hines, J. -Y. Monnat, James D. Nichols, Etienne Danchin
Estimation of tiger densities in India using photographic captures and recaptures
The tiger (Panthera tigris) is an endangered, large felid whose demographic status is poorly known across its distributional range in Asia. Previously applied methods for estimating tiger abundance, using total counts based on tracks, have proved unreliable. Lack of reliable data on tiger densities not only has constrained our ability to understand the ecological factors shaping communities of lar
Authors
K. Ullas Karanth, James D. Nichols
Estimation of temporal variability of survival in animal populations
Temporal variation of demographic characteristics for animal populations is of interest to both ecologists and biological modelers. The standard deviation of a series of estimated parameter values (e.g., estimated population size) or some function thereof (e.g., log of the estimated parameters) is commonly used as a measure of temporal variability. These measures of temporal variation overestimate
Authors
William R. Gould, James D. Nichols
Higher temporal variability of forest breeding bird communities in fragmented landscapes
Understanding the relationship between animal community dynamics and landscape structure has become a priority for biodiversity conservation. In particular, predicting the effects of habitat destruction that confine species to networks of small patches is an important prerequisite to conservation plan development. Theoretical models that predict the occurrence of species in fragmented landscapes,
Authors
T. Boulinier, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, John R. Sauer, Curtis H. Flather, Kenneth H. Pollock
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 401
Consideraciones para la estimacion de abundancia de poblaciones de mamiferos. [Considerations for the estimation of abundance of mammal populations.]
Estimation of abundance of mammal populations is essential for monitoring programs and for many ecological investigations. The first step for any study of variation in mammal abundance over space or time is to define the objectives of the study and how and why abundance data are to be used. The data used to estimate abundance are count statistics in the form of counts of animals or their signs.
Authors
R.S. Walker, A.J. Novare, J. D. Nichols
Annual survival and site fidelity of Stellar's Eiders molting along the Alaska Peninsula
Populations of Steller's eiders (Polysticta stelleri) molting and wintering along the Alaska Peninsula have declined since the 1960's. We captured and marked a large sample of Steller's eiders molting in 2 lagoons along the Alaska Peninsula between 1975-97. We used mark-recapture analysis techniques to estimate annual survival and movement probabilities within and among lagoons for male and female
Authors
Paul L. Flint, Margaret R. Petersen, Christian P. Dau, James E. Hines, James D. Nichols
COMDYN: Software to study the dynamics of animal communities using a capture-recapture approach
COMDYN is a set of programs developed for estimation of parameters associated with community dynamics using count data from two locations or time periods. It is Internet-based, allowing remote users either to input their own data, or to use data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey for analysis. COMDYN allows probability of detection to vary among species and among locations and time per
Authors
J. E. Hines, T. Boulinier, J. D. Nichols, J.R. Sauer, K. H. Pollock
Demographic parameter estimation for experimental landscape studies on small mammal populations
No abstract available.
Authors
J. D. Nichols, C.J. Coffman
Demography of forest birds in Panama: How do transients affect estimates of survival rates?
Estimates of annual survival rates of neotropical birds have proven controversial. Traditionally, tropical birds were thought to have high survival rates for their size, but analyses of a multispecies assemblage from Panama by Karr et al. (1990) provided a counterexample to that view. One criticism of that study has been that the estimates were biased by transient birds captured only once as they
Authors
J. D. Brawn, J.R. Karr, J. D. Nichols, W.D. Robinson
Annual survival of Snail Kites in Florida: Radio telemetry versus capture-resighting data
We estimated annual survival of Snail Kites (Rostrhamus sociabilis) in Florida using the Kaplan-Meier estimator with data from 271 radio-tagged birds over a three-year period and capture-recapture (resighting) models with data from 1,319 banded birds over a six-year period. We tested the hypothesis that survival differed among three age classes using both data sources. We tested additional hypothe
Authors
R.E. Bennetts, V.J. Dreitz, W.M. Kitchens, J. E. Hines, J. D. Nichols
Quantitative studies of bird movement: A methodological review
The past several years have seen development of a number of statistical models and methods for drawing inferences about bird movement using data from marked individuals. It can be difficult to keep up with this rapid development of new methods, so our purpose here is to categorize and review methods for drawing inferences about avian movement. We also outline recommendations about future work de
Authors
J. D. Nichols, A. Kaiser
Modeling data from double-tagging experiments to estimate heterogeneous rates of tag shedding in lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)
Data from mark-recapture studies are used to estimate population rates such as exploitation, survival, and growth. Many of these applications assume negligible tag loss, so tag shedding can be a significant problem. Various tag shedding models have been developed for use with data from double-tagging experiments, including models to estimate constant instantaneous rates, time-dependent rates, an
Authors
Mary C. Fabrizio, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, Bruce L. Swanson, Stephen T. Schram
Are adult nonbreeders prudent parents? The kittiwake model
Understanding evolutionary consequences of intermittent breeding (nonbreeding in individuals that previously bred) requires investigation of the relationships between adult breeding state and two demographic parameters: survival probability and subsequent breeding probability. One major difficulty raised by comparing the demographic features of breeders and nonbreeders as estimated from capture–re
Authors
Emmanuelle Cam, James E. Hines, J. -Y. Monnat, James D. Nichols, Etienne Danchin
Estimation of tiger densities in India using photographic captures and recaptures
The tiger (Panthera tigris) is an endangered, large felid whose demographic status is poorly known across its distributional range in Asia. Previously applied methods for estimating tiger abundance, using total counts based on tracks, have proved unreliable. Lack of reliable data on tiger densities not only has constrained our ability to understand the ecological factors shaping communities of lar
Authors
K. Ullas Karanth, James D. Nichols
Estimation of temporal variability of survival in animal populations
Temporal variation of demographic characteristics for animal populations is of interest to both ecologists and biological modelers. The standard deviation of a series of estimated parameter values (e.g., estimated population size) or some function thereof (e.g., log of the estimated parameters) is commonly used as a measure of temporal variability. These measures of temporal variation overestimate
Authors
William R. Gould, James D. Nichols
Higher temporal variability of forest breeding bird communities in fragmented landscapes
Understanding the relationship between animal community dynamics and landscape structure has become a priority for biodiversity conservation. In particular, predicting the effects of habitat destruction that confine species to networks of small patches is an important prerequisite to conservation plan development. Theoretical models that predict the occurrence of species in fragmented landscapes,
Authors
T. Boulinier, James D. Nichols, James E. Hines, John R. Sauer, Curtis H. Flather, Kenneth H. Pollock