Question

A population ecologist wished to determine the size of a population of white-footed deer mice, Peromyscus leucopus, in a 1-hectare field. Her first trapping yielded 80 mice, all of which were marked with a dab of purple hair dye on the back of the neck. Two weeks later, the trapping was repeated. This time 75 mice were trapped, out of which 48 of the mice were marked. Using the formula below, what is the population of mice in the field

Answer 1

Answer: 125

Explanation:

Population size is the number of individuals in a population. First, the trapping yielded 80 mice that were marked. Two weeks later, 75 mice were trapped and 48 of them had the mark.

The formula used for this question is:

N=mn/x

• N= population size in the 1-hectare field.
• m= number of individuals marked and released the first time.
• n= number of individuals captured the second time.
• x= number of marked individuals that are recaptured.

The experiment consist on a randome collect sample of individuals which are then marked and released.  Next, take a sample again.

So, replacing the values we get:

N=(80)(75)/48

N=125 individuals.