Summarizing Assumption Violations

Use your results from the class exercise to provide answers to the following questions.

  1. Which assumption violations allow the biologist to still reliably estimate the initial population abundance?
  2. Which assumption violations allow the biologist to still reliably estimate the final population abundance?
  3. Which assumption violations allow the biologist to still reliably estimate both the initial and final population abundances?
  4. 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.