Graphical and demographic synopsis of the captive cohort method for estimating population age structure in the wild

The purpose of this paper is to complement the literature concerned with the captive cohort method for estimating age structure including (1) graphic techniques to visualize and thus better understand the underlying life table identity in which the age structure of a stationary population equals the time-to-death distribution of the individuals within it; (2) re-derive the basic model for estimating age structure in non-stationary population in demographic rather than statistical notation; and (3) describe a simplified method for estimating changes in the mean age of a wild population.

► New graphs help readers visualize the life table identity.
► Statistical notation in the main model is replaced with demographic notation.
► A new simplified model is described that estimates mean population age.