Table 2.

Definitions of variables and parameters

Type	Symbol	Definition/description	Units
Random variables, observed values	Λ, λ	Per host net egg output	eggs gram-1
	W, w	Per host mean weight of female Ascaris	grams
	n	Per host female worm burden	worms host-1
	a	Host age group (a = 0 for age ≤ 12, a = 1 for age > 12,)
Unobserved random variables	M	Per host unobserved true mean weight of female Ascaris	grams
Unobserved values	μW	Expected value of the per host mean weight of female Ascaris	grams
	μΛ	Expected value of the per host net egg output	eggs gram-1
	p	The probability of observing a zero count from the Bernoulli process	-
Estimated parameters	${\alpha }_a=\{{\alpha }_{1a},{\alpha }_{2a},{\alpha }_{3a}\}$	Describe the form of density-dependence of the expected value of the per host mean weight of female Ascaris in age group a	-
	$\sigma =\{{\sigma }_1^2,{\sigma }_2^2\}$	Describe the relationship between the variance of the per host mean weight of female Ascaris and the female worm burden	-
	λ1	Exponential of the intercept term of statistical models fitting the expected value of the per host net egg output to data	-
	β	Describes the effect of host age category on the expected value of the per host net egg output	-
	c	An inverse measure of the severity of density dependence (0 <c ≤ 1) on the expected value of the per host net egg output	-
	$\gamma =\{{\gamma }_1,{\gamma }_2,{\gamma }_3\}$	Describe the form of the relationship between the expected value of the per host net egg output and female Ascaris mean weight	-
	$\delta =\{{\delta }_0,{\delta }_1,{\delta }_2,{\delta }_3\}$	Describe the age-dependent relationship between the logit of the probability of observing a zero egg count, the natural logarithm of female worm burden and the natural logarithm of the mean weight of female Ascaris	-
	k	Inverse measure of the degree of overdispersion in egg output data	-