Summarizing Assumption Violations
Use your results from the class exercise to provide answers to the following questions.
- Which assumption violations allow the biologist to still reliably estimate the initial population abundance?
- Which assumption violations allow the biologist to still reliably estimate the final population abundance?
- Which assumption violations allow the biologist to still reliably estimate both the initial and final population abundances?
- What are three things you can do when performing a mark-recapture study that will minimize violating these assumptions?
Lake Huron Sea Lamprey
Bergstedt et al. (2003) used the Petersen (with the Chapman modification) mark-recapture method to estimate the population size of parasitic Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in Lake Huron. Use their results from “Pre” period and the 1991 parasitic feeding year in Table 3 (use the M, C, and R rows) to confirm the population estimate (in the first row of the table) and, hopefully, the confidence interval (in the second and third rows of the table). Show your work and write a formal statement about how your results compare to those in the paper.