Professional Documents
Culture Documents
will be greater than the number caught at later trapping using the
That is, as one reduces the population size, the size of the catch will
decrease.
period of sampling.
1
The first assumption relates to the collecting technique. Capture
should not favor one sex, one age class, or one individual over
will be underestimated.
biased. Therefore, the sampling effort must be the same for each
sampling period.
2
required instead is that the ratio of marked to unmarked individuals
3
Procedures
nights. For small mammals these traps may be snap traps or live
traps. If live traps are used, all mammals caught in each sampling
4
Traps on the outer stations usually capture more animals than those
in the center of the grid, because animals in the border zone react
population estimates.
Regression Method
the data points to cut the horizontal axis. The point at which the
catch data. The slope of the line represents the average proportion
250
200
Num ber Caught, Y
y = -0.5x + 200
150
100
50
0
0 100 200 300 400
Total Num ber Previously Caught, X
5
Figure 1. The number of captures each sampling period as a function
of the accumulated prior catch. The data are form Table 1.
mals at different times and removing them from the population. The
amount of collecting effort must be the same each time. So, for
The numbers of animals caught are then plotted against the total
Table 1.
6
In this example, 200 animals were caught, with a sampling effort, in
200 + 100 = 300 animals were removed from the population prior to
(the line in Figure 1), the total accumulated catch of 400 would then
draw a reliable line through the several data points. The line might
7
slope of the line indicates the average proportion of the population
Yi = a + bXi (1)
0 = a + bN (2)
N = —a/b (3)
N = —(200)/(—0.50) = 400.
8
extrapolation method, although the two population estimates should
then
p = n1 /N (4)
and
Therefore,
n1 = n2 (6)
N N - n1
9
N= n12 (7)
n1 – n2
N= (200)2
(200 – 100)
= 40000/100 = 400,
= 346410/10000 = 34.6
N + (t)(SE) (9)
interval use t = 1.96 and for a 99% confidence interval use t = 2.58).
10
400 + (1.96)(34.6) = 400 + 68;
that is, the true population size is estimated to be between 332 and
468.
Further considerations
Often one does not want to remove animals from a study area
captured animal and releasing such animals back into the population,
= 90.
11