Abstract: Local polynomial models for capture-recapture experiments on open populations with frequent capture occasions and heterogeneous capture probabilities are proposed. A one-step bootstrap procedure is proposed to determine optimal bandwidths. It is shown in simulations that for heterogeneous populations the proposed procedure performs better than the kernel estimator of Huggins and Yip (1999) that was developed for homogeneous populations and the locally constant estimator of Huggins, Yang, Chao and Yip (2003).
Key words and phrases: Capture-recapture, kernel function, martingale estimating function, open population, sample coverage.