Question

a biologist originally marked 10 sharks in coastal waters adjacent to the florida coast. over a month long period, biologists caught 25 sharks. of those 25, 6 were found to have tags. based on this information, what is the estimated population size of the sharks in the area?

Answer 1

To estimate the population size of the sharks in the area, we can use the mark and recapture method, which assumes that the proportion of marked individuals in a sample is representative of the proportion of marked individuals in the entire population. The formula for the mark and recapture method is:

N = (n1 x n2) / m

Where N is the estimated population size, n1 is the number of individuals marked in the initial sample, n2 is the total number of individuals in the second sample, and m is the number of individuals in the second sample that have been previously marked.

Using the information given in the question, we can fill in the values as follows:

n1 = 10 (number of individuals marked in the initial sample)
n2 = 25 (total number of individuals in the second sample)
m = 6 (number of individuals in the second sample that have been previously marked)

Plugging these values into the formula, we get:

N = (n1 x n2) / m
N = (10 x 25) / 6
N = 41.67

Therefore, the estimated population size of the sharks in the area is approximately 42 individuals.

Hope this helps