Program SPACECAP: software for estimating animal density using spatially explicit capture-recapture

Gopalaswamy and colleagues released SPACECAP, free software implementing Bayesian spatially explicit capture-recapture specifically to make modern density estimation accessible to camera-trap practitioners, including those without advanced statistical programming skills. The tool let users fit spatial capture-recapture models to photographic data, producing density estimates with full uncertainty while properly handling the spatial encounter process at camera stations. By packaging cutting-edge methodology into approachable software, SPACECAP accelerated the adoption of SECR for tiger, leopard, and other felid monitoring, particularly in range countries. It played an important role in standardizing rigorous density estimation in applied conservation. The paper documenting the program is widely cited as the reference for SPACECAP-based analyses and exemplifies how software dissemination advances methodological practice.