Encounter Histories Format

Each data type of Program MARK requires a primary form of data entry provided by the encounter histories. Encounter histories can be either information on only live encounters (LLLL) or information on both live and dead encounters (LDLDLDLD). In addition, some data types allow a summary format that reduces the amount of input. The following table summaries the input for each data type as specified in the encounter histories file.

Following each encounter encounter history is the number of animals with this encounter history for each group (known as frequencies). One or more spaces are used to separate the encounter history from the frequencies.

If individual covariates are included, these values follow the frequencies for each group. Typically with individual covariates, only one frequency will be non-zero, usually with a value of 1 because only one animal would have the specific set of individual covariate values. One or more speces are used to separate the individual covariates.

A semicolon terminates the input for each encounter history.