Model comparison and assessment for multi-state capture-recapture-recovery data

The work of this paper is motivated by a study of Great Cormorants, Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis, in Denmark. The dataset is complex, involving birds in different states living in and moving between neighbouring colonies. As a consequence, the set of probability models that might describe the data is large. In order to choose between the models, we present a score test approach for moving efficiently between the members of a model set with many members. We then provide a new measure for testing the absolute goodness-of-fit of the selected model to the data. This measure may be used when a model is multi-state/multi-site, and involves age- and time-dependence, as well as integrated recovery and recapture data, which is needed for the application. An illustration is provided by data from a single colony only, but with two breeding states, and an additional emigrated state.