Hi, we are modelling dusky grouper distribution using underwater visual census. Our response variable is the abundance of groupers but we want to see differences in habitat related to maturity because dusky groupers use different habitats when they're juveniles versus adults. So we're using the % of maturity. ie 1 individual that is 50cm TL gets aprox 0.5 (50% chances to be mature and 50% to be inmature) and so on. If we have let's say another grouper that is 40 cm TL it will have a probability for example 0.7 to be inmature so for our transect we will have a total of 0.7 +0.5= 1.2 for 2 individuals. We're using the Poisson distribution because our data is not overdispersed and it's not normal. But we don't know what offset we should include. Would it be the area of the transect? all transects have the same area, 90 m2. Or should it be the total abundance of groupers per transect? in the example offset=2 Thanks a lot in adavance Lucia -- View this message in context: http://r.789695.n4.nabble.com/offset-in-gam-tp3417491p3417491.html Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com.