how to account for Nc and population existance data at different times

[Alicia Mastretta]

Hi,

We encounter a situation that is not accounted for in our form and that we think should be incorporated in future versions. This is it:

For a bunch of tree species we have census data of some years ago (e.g. 2008), so the answer to the question: "In what year was the Nc estimated for population 1?" would be 2008. This information will be used for the Ne indicator.

However, although the census was done in 2008, satellite images of the place show no changes in vegetation cover from 2008 to the 2019 (most recent images). Therefore, the indicator of the number of population still existing could have data of 2019 instead of 2008, but there is no way to record this.

To account for this, right now we are answering the next questions as follows:

"What year or time period is this population structure based on?"
A: 2008-2019
Logic: including the year of the Nc sampling (2008 in the above example)  and the most recent year for which we have information that the population still exists (2019 google images).


"In what year was the Nc estimated for population 1?
A: 2008
Logic: the year the Nc was actually estimated

"Any additional comments or notes regarding the information that has been provided or why it could not be for population 1?"
A: The census was done in 2008 but Google Earth satellite images from 2009-2019 show no apparent changes in the vegetation, so the population likely remains there.
Logic: explain the comments up to which year the population likely continues to exist.

Let me know what do you think or if you found another solution.

Cheers,

Alicia

[shoban]

I think this makes sense, and I also think v 5.0 and future could allow multiple time points.