weighting global density estimate in model definition properties

[Joe Roberts]

Dear Distance list subscribers,

I'd like to ask for some help with Distance 4 release 2. FYI, all
observations were collected as exact distances perpendicular from the line.
I suspect my detection function will differ between regions.

I have two geographic regions and would like to stratify via the stratum
data layer to get density estimates for both. In the "Model Definition
Properties" "Estimate" tab, I am unclear how to weight my global density
estimate. My area for each region is zero (from the area field in the data
explorer). The F1 help menu says to use the default settings for geographic
stratification, but there is no picture so I am unsure as to what weighting
is appropriate. Weighting by area gives a higher density estimate than
giving equal weighting to all strata, even though the area is set to zero.
My gut feeling is that I should give equal weight to all strata, because I
have eight transects of equal length in each region.

As always, thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Sincerely,
Joe Roberts
Graduate Student
Dept. of Zoology
Univ. of Oklahoma