Estimating Fish Population Size Using a Mark-Recapture Technique
Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2017, Volume 38
Ann Oliver Cheek
Abstract
The purpose of this laboratory exercise is to estimate the size of a closed population in the natural environment. The exercise can be completed in two laboratory periods. During the first lab period, students label, bait, and set traps, then retrieve traps, mark fish at a local pond, tally data, and return fish safely to the pond. During the second lab period, students capture fish again, calculate an estimate of population size based on the proportion of recaptures they make, and evaluate the validity of their estimate. The exercise was designed as a guided inquiry activity for an intermediate level undergraduate field biology course. Students could then choose among several methods to develop their own course-based research project. The activity could be used in an Introductory Biology, Ecology, Field Biology, or Ichthyology course, as a methods exercise or as a guided inquiry activity preparing students to answer their own questions.
Keywords: quantitative skill, fish, guided inquiry, mark-recapture, population density
