Conditional effects, taking into account both occupancy and detection parameters

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Justin Biggerstaff

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May 11, 2026, 2:31:42 PMMay 11
to spOccupancy and spAbundance users
Hello,

I am currently generating different conditional effects plots and have been able to create some nice looking plots of my occupancy models, using data generated from the predict() function. To my knowledge, the predict function will either let you make an occupancy prediction, or a detection prediction. What I am wanting to know is if there is a way to account for both of these in a conditional effects plot, essentially providing an estimate of true occupancy (psi/p)? My idea is to create a plot similar to the one attached below, but that keeps detection covariates held constant at their mean (which in my context, are temperature and noise).

Does what I am thinking of make sense, and is it possible? 
Art_ADT_occuplot.jpeg

Marc Kéry

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May 11, 2026, 2:59:49 PMMay 11
to Justin Biggerstaff, spOccupancy and spAbundance users
Dear Justin,

the two parts of the model don't interact in the sense you are thinking of. That is, occupancy exists, and therefore, can be predicted, independent of the amount of measurement error that we have in assessing occupancy. Hence, what you want is exactly what spOccupancy (and other, related programs such as unmarked) do: predict occupancy or detection separately.

Best regards --- Marc

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