PRACTICAL Name:

Handling experimental observations and data:

estimating the size of a population
You need:
■ plain paper ■ pen or pencil ■ bag or small box

Method:
You are provided with a bag with some pieces of paper in it. The
pieces of paper represent animals in a population, and the bag is
the environment in which they live. The investigation looks at a
‘capture-recapture’ technique for estimating their population size.

1 Remove between 15 and 20 ‘animals’ from the habitat (the exact

number does not matter) and record this number in the table.
2 Mark all the pieces of paper with a small number 1 and put
them back in the bag. Shake for 1 minute to mix up the
‘animals’.
3 Remove 15–20 ‘animals’ from the bag and write down this
number in the table.
4 Count how many of this second sample have got a number 1
written on them (remember to look on both sides).
5 Estimate the size of the population using this formula:

No. in first sample 3 no. in second sample

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No. in second sample marked with a 1
6 Repeat steps 1–5 a further 4 times but mark the captured
‘animals’ in the second step with a 2 the second time, a 3 the
third time, a 4 the fourth time and a 5 the fifth time. Ignore any
other numbers from the earlier samples.
7 Display all the readings in the form of a table. Work out a mean
value for the estimate of the population using your five sets of
results. Record the mean value.
8 Tip out all of the ‘animals’ and count the actual population size.
Record this value.
9 Present your results in a bar chart that shows all five of the
estimates of the population and the actual value clearly.
10 Calculate the percentage error in your estimates compared with
the actual value.

© OUP: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute