West Indian manatees, Trichechus manatus

Our science portfolio includes the study and management of mammal populations, which can require the use of methods and analysis that incorporate the difficulty in detecting them – picture how hard it is to count and identify bats at dusk or estimate the number of mountain lions in an area.

Adaptive management (AM) combines management and monitoring, with the aim of updating knowledge and improving decision-making over time. We provide a guide for managers who may realize the potential of AM, but are unsure where to start. The urgent need for iterative management decisions, the existence of uncertainty, and the opportunity for learning offered by often highly-controlled captive...

A formal framework that revolves around the construction of a mathematical expression using equations, statements or formulas as representation of a system, behavior, or process to simulate the behavior of the system, a series of relationships, or process under study.

Determining the size of animal populations is fundamental to wildlife management and how such populations change over time and space can provide insights into ecosystem function and associated processes. Patuxent scientists’ utilize a number of robust statistical techniques to generate these estimates and to improve our understanding of population dynamics.