Lab: Some thing's Fishy - Population Study Purpose: You will be expected to estimate the size of a sample population

using the mark-recapture techni ue! "e able to apply the techni ue to new population problems and compare the mark and recapture techni ue to other methods of population estimating ! Background: #o estimate population size the techni ue called sampling is often used! $n this procedure organisms in a few small areas are counted and pro%ected to the entire area! &nother method used is tagging! #agging is used to determine populations of a 'ariety of species( on of the most well known ways as a matter of fact! #he purpose of tagging animals is to be able to track health( range( and migration patterns! )nce the animals are tagged biologists release the animals to let them go on the way they were! &fter this biologists are able to take random samples of the animals( determine the percent tagged( to help with their hypothesis what they think the population of that certain species is! Procedure: *! )btain a bowl with your +species, in it! -+fish, crackers.! /! 0o 1)# count the number of fish in your pond yet2 3! 4a'e one member of your group remo'e a large handful of fish! 5rite that number here: ____17_____ 6! 7ount the number of fish you %ust remo'ed and replace these fish with +tagged, fish -in this case( colored +fish,. 8! 9ix your pond well to redistribute the tagged fish among the other fish! :! )ne member at a time -and without looking.( remo'e a handful of fish and record the number of total fish in the sample( the number of +tagged fish,( and figure out the percentage of tagged fish! -see chart. ;! <eturn your handful to the bowl22 7ontinue with this until you ha'e taken /= samples! Data:
1 Total Fish: Tagged Fish: Percent Tagged: *: / */!8 2 > * 3 *8 6 4 ** * 5 /3 6 6 /= / 7 *> 3 8 *: 6 9 *: 3 10 /6 8 11 // 3 12 *; : 13 *: 3 14 /> ; 15 *6 ; 8= 16 /6 8 17 *= * 18 *? 3 19 *: : 20 *3 6 Mean *;!3 3!;

*/!8 /:!: ?

*;!3 *=

*:!: /8

*>!; /=!> *3!: 38!/ *>!; /8

/=!> *=

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Questions:

1. What is the mean (average o! "our percent tagged !ish !rom "our #$ samp%es& 3!; #. 'sing the !o%%o(ing !ormu%a) determine an estimated popu%ation !or "our pond: Popu%ation *i+e , tota% number captured - number marked (%ine ./ above tota% number captured (ith mark -*;!3 @ *;.A -3!;. ;? /. 0o() actua%%" count the number o! !ish in "our bo(%: *=:

1. 2ind "our percentage error b" using the !o%%o(ing !ormu%a: 3 1$$ - (4our estimate o! popu%ation 5 6ctua% si+e o! popu%ation 7 (6ctua% si+e o! popu%ation -;? B *=:.A*=: &nswer: -/8!6; 8. What concerns shou%d a bio%ogist have about a species9 habits be!ore (s he uses this method to appro-imate the si+e o! a popu%ation& 1atural disasters( lack of resources( and migration seasons! :onc%usion: ;o( did "ou !u%!i%% the purpose& What did "ou %earn& 5e were /8C off on the actual population which is pretty high since most percent errors are from = to *=C! So my conclusion to this is there were some mistakes made while conducting this experiment! Some possible mistakes that could''e caused the errors in our experiment is mis counting! 9issing a fish that needed to be count! &nother is filling in the data table incorrectly! #he mistake $ think my partner and $ did was counting wrong! &t one point we were counting my two's and $ specifically remember ha'ing to correct my partner when she was counting because she skipped a number! 5hether or not this may be the cause of such a high percent error will remain a mystery( but what $ learned from this acti'ity is how important it is to be accurate and alert on what you do( like any experiment! &nother thing $ learned is information about tagging and how it's done and how important it is to do this process to get a good estimate of how many animals there are in a certain population to a'oid extinction!