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Mark-Recapture

Author(s): John Jungck1, Jessie Panks1

Beloit College

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Summary:
A common method used to estimate the population size of a species is the Mark-Recapture method.

Licensed under CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International according to these terms

Version 1.0 - published on 19 Aug 2024 doi:10.25334/TR7G-WV77 - cite this

Keywords

  1. mark-recapture analysis
  2. population estimation

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  2. Subdiscipline
  3. Audience Level
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Overview

A common method used to estimate the population size of a species is the Mark-Recapture method. In a closed system, an initial sample is taken and marked in an identifiable way. The subjects are then released back into the environment to disperse among with the rest of the population. After the initial sample is given enough time to redistribute into the population, another sample is taken and the number of marked individuals is counted. Assuming that the system is closed and that the proportion of marked individuals is equal to that of the proportion of caught individuals, one may calculate the estimated population size. This single sample method is used for the Lincoln-Peterson, Bailey, and Modified. Other sampling methods include using multiple samples such as with Schnabel, Schumacher-Eschmeyer and Bayesian.

Popular Text Citations

Lincoln-Peterson (Snapshot: 2012-01-25)

Bayesian: Gazey, W. J. and Staley, M. J. 1986. Population Estimation from Mark-Recapture Experiments Using a Sequential Bayes Algorithm. Ecology, Vol. 67, No. 4, pp. 941-951.

Salamanders: L. Rose, Francis and Armentrout, Dede. 1974. Population Estimates of Ambystoma tigrinum Inhabiting Two Playa Lakes. The Journal of Animal Ecology, Vol. 43, No. 3. pp. 671-679.

Whiteley, Andrew R., Jennifer Woolf, Kathleen Kenneoy, David Oberbillig, and Carol Brewer. 2007. Classroom Mark-Recapture with Crickets. The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 69, No. 5, pp 292-297.

L. Pham, S. Boudreaux, S. Karhbet, B. Price, A. S. Ackleh, J. Carter, and N. Pal, Population estimates of Hyla cinerea (Schneider) in an urban environment. Southeastern Naturalist, 6 (2007), 203-216.

Education Research & Pedagogical Materials

Schnabel: Srivastava, Diane. (2007) Mark-Recapture. Powerpoint presentation.

Bayesian: O'Hara, Bob. (2007) Mark-Recapture the Bayesian Way. Powerpoint presentation. (Snapshot: 2007-06-13)

Confidence Intervals: Ganter, Phil. (2007) Principles of Ecology

Citation

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Fundamental Mathematical Concepts

Fundamental Mathematical Concepts

Developed By

Developed by

McCallum, H. (2000) Population Parameters: Estimation for Ecological Models. Blackwell Science, Oxford.

Primary Reference

Bailey, N. T. J. (1951). On estimating the size of mobile populations from capture-recapture data. Biometrika 38, 293-306.

Schumacher, R. X. & Eschmeyer, R.W.(1943). The estimate of fish population in lakes and ponds. Tenn. Acad. Sci. 18, 228.

Schnabel, Z. E. (1938). The estimation of the total fish population of a lake. Amer. Math. Mon. 45, 348.

Lincoln, F. C. 1930. Calculating waterfowl abundances on the basis of banding returns. U.S. Dep Agric. Circ 118. 4pp.

Petersen, C. G. J. 1896. The yearly immigration of plaice into the Limfjord from the German Sea. Rep. Dan. Biol. Stn. 1895. 6:1-77.