Question

In a capture-recapture study, suppose 40 deer are tagged and released. On the recapture, 32 deer are caught, of which 4 are found to have been tagged. Estimate the number of deer in the forest.

A) 120
B) 545
C) 320
D) 410

Answer 1

By using the capture-recapture method and setting up a proportion based on the number of tagged deer, we estimate the deer population in the forest to be 320, which is option C.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the capture-recapture study, we have a simple proportion to estimate the total population of deer in the forest. Initially, 40 deer were tagged and released. Upon recapture, 32 deer were caught, with only 4 being previously tagged. We set up a ratio of tagged to total deer in the first capture to tagged to total deer in the recapture:

(Number of tagged deer in the first capture / Total initial population) = (Number of tagged deer in the recapture / Total recapture sample)

Estimating the population size (N) is straightforward:

40 / N = 4 / 32

After cross-multiplying and solving for N, we get:

N = (40 * 32) / 4

N = 320

Thus, the estimated number of deer in the forest is 320, which corresponds to option C.