An overview of closed capture-recapture models

This article reviews various models for both discrete-time and continuous-t ime closed capture-recapture experiments. The traditional discrete-time mod els assume that the samples are independent. Dependence may be caused by lo cal dependence (list dependence) within each animal or by heterogeneity amo ng animals. Three different approaches that can incorporate dependence into models are reviewed, i.e., ecological models, log-linear models, and the s ample-coverage approach, The statistical tools involved in population size estimation in these three approaches cover a wide range of methodologies. T here has been relatively little published research for the continuous-time counterparts. The counting process approach, which is the framework for mos t existing estimation procedures for continuous-time models, is reviewed. T he connection of continuous-time models to recurrent event analysis in the context of failure time inferences is discussed. The applications of captur e-recapture models to other disciplines are briefly presented. Remarks abou t the limitations of the models are made and some future research direction s are also suggested.