Multievent Capture-Mark-Recapture

The study modeled imperfect detection, uncertain breeding status, survival, and recruitment transitions using a multievent capture-mark-recapture framework. The model represented reproduction accession as first visiting the colony after fledging and later breeding there for the first time. The main hypothesis tested whether gulls could move directly from uninformed nonrecruited status to recruited breeding status. The model incorporated uncertainty in whether observed individuals were actually breeding. Detection was modeled as time-dependent because resighting probabilities differed among years.