How you count counts: the importance of methods research in applied ecology

Abstract

Methods papers play a crucial role in advancing applied ecology. Counting organisms, in particular, has a rich history of methods development with many key advances both in field sampling and the treatment of resulting data. 2. Most counts, however, have associated errors due to portions of the population of interest being unavailable for detection (e.g. target population not fully sampled; individuals present but not detectable), detection mistakes (e.g. detectable individuals missed; non-existent individuals recorded), or erroneous counts (e.g. large groups miscounted; individuals misidentified).