RESTRICTED ADAPTIVE CLUSTER SAMPLING

Adaptive cluster sampling can be a useful design for sampling rare and patchy populations. With this design the initial sample size is fixed but the size of the final sample (and total sampling effort) cannot b e predicted prior to sampling. For some populations the final sample s ize can be quite variable depending on the level of patchiness. Restri cted adaptive cluster sampling is a proposed modification where a limi t is placed on the sample size prior to sampling and quadrats are sele cted sequentially for the initial sample size. As a result there is le ss variation in the final sample size and the total sampling effort ca n be predicted with some certainty, which is important for many ecolog ical studies. Estimates of density are biased with the restricted desi gn but under some circumstances the bias can be estimated well by boot strapping.