Mark and Recapture

You perform a mark and recapture study to estimate population size of the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, an endangered small mammal. This is the start of a long-term monitoring project. You set out 100 traps evenly spaced along 10 transect lines in a small area the animals are thought to inhabit. You only capture 4 jumping mice on the first night and mark each animal. Three days later you repeat the trapping and capture 6 mice, 2 of which were previously marked. You repeat the trapping at regular intervals and get reasonably consistent results each time, but discover that on some nights, maybe once a month, you never trap a single mouse. How do you explain that on some nights you never capture a single mouse?

It was likely a full moon

You perform a mark and recapture study to estimate population size of the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, an endangered small mammal. This is the start of a long-term monitoring project. You set out 100 traps evenly spaced along 10 transect lines in a small area the animals are thought to inhabit. You only capture 4 jumping mice on the first night and mark each animal. Three days later you repeat the trapping and capture 6 mice, 2 of which were previously marked. You repeat the trapping at regular intervals and get reasonably consistent results each time, but discover that on some nights, maybe once a month, you never trap a single mouse. What method of marking the mice would you choose?

PIT tags

You were given the job of measuring the population size of kangaroo rats, a small nocturnal mammal in the Sonoran Desert (look them up, they are cute) in an area that is about to be bulldozed for a housing development. You use Sherman traps and the mark and recapture method. You set up 50 traps along 5 transect lines and trap 19 kangaroo rats, 3 packrats and 2 species of pocket mice. You decide to mark all of the animals you capture. Five days later you repeat the process. This time you capture 23 kangaroo rats, 11 of which were marked; 3 packrats all of which were marked, and no pocket mice. What would do to increase the accuracy of the estimate of the kangaroo rat population size? What is the most accurate way?

Repeat the mark and recapture study over several nights to increase the replicate size

You want to estimate the packrat population size on the Red Mtn campus. Campus is 48 ha and you have surveyed campus and counted 23 middens. You set two traps at 10 randomly selected middens and capture and mark 8 animals. You repeat the process 4 days later and capture 6 animals 5 of which are marked. What is the density of packrats in # of animals per hectare? DO NOT round and take your calculations to two decimal places. Your answer should be a number to two decimal places.

.46

From the tasks you completed in Part 4 of your lab, what is the density of packrats on campus? Write in a number to two decimal places.

1.23

You perform a mark and recapture study to estimate population size of the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, an endangered small mammal. This is the start of a long-term monitoring project. You set out 100 traps evenly spaced along 10 transect lines in a small area the animals are thought to inhabit. You only capture 4 jumping mice on the first night and mark each animal. Three days later you repeat the trapping and capture 6 mice, 2 of which were previously marked. You repeat the trapping at regular intervals and get reasonably consistent results each time, but discover that on some nights, maybe once a month, you never trap a single mouse. What is the estimated population size of the jumping mouse population? Enter the number ONLY with no syntax and round to the nearest whole number. Do this one WITHOUT a calculator (shock horror gasp....), the math is easy and it will help you understand what you are doing.

12

You want to estimate the packrat population size on the Red Mtn campus. Campus is 48 hectares and you have surveyed campus and counted 23 middens. You set two traps at 10 randomly selected middens and capture and mark 8 animals. You repeat the process 4 days later and capture 6 animals 5 of which are marked. What is the total estimated packrat population size on campus? Take your calculations to no more than two decimal places and write your answer to two decimal places.

22.08

You were given the job of measuring the population size of kangaroo rats, a small nocturnal mammal in the Sonoran Desert (look them up, they are cute) in an area that is about to be bulldozed for a housing development. You use Sherman traps and the mark and recapture method. You set up 50 traps along 5 transect lines and trap 19 kangaroo rats, 3 packrats and 2 species of pocket mice. You decide to mark all of the animals you capture. Five days later you repeat the process. This time you capture 23 kangaroo rats, 11 of which were marked; 3 packrats all of which were marked, and no pocket mice. What is the estimated size of the packrat population?

3 - although more trapping is needed

You were given the job of measuring the population size of kangaroo rats, a small nocturnal mammal in the Sonoran Desert (look them up, they are cute) in an area that is about to be bulldozed for a housing development. You use Sherman traps and the mark and recapture method. You set up 50 traps along 5 transect lines and trap 19 kangaroo rats, 3 packrats and 2 species of pocket mice. You decide to mark all of the animals you capture. Five days later you repeat the process. This time you capture 23 kangaroo rats, 11 of which were marked; 3 packrats all of which were marked, and no pocket mice. What is the estimated population size of the kangaroo rats? Enter the number ONLY with no syntax and round to the nearest whole number

40

From the tasks you completed in Part 4 of your lab, what is the total number of packrats on campus? Write in a number to two decimal places.

59.22