1. Estimating Population Size • Quadrats • Capture/Mark/Release/Recapture (Lincoln Index)

2. Knowing population size is important in making environmental decisions that would affect the population. • Making a decision on an estimate that is too high  extinction. • Making a decision on an estimate that is too low  unnecessarily hurt people that depend on the animals for food & income.

3. An Example of a Local Endangered Species • http://www.animalinfo.org/species/primate/lagoflav.htm • Yellow Tailed Woolly Monkey

4. Explain why having an accurate estimate of the Yellow tailed woolly monkey is important. • This species is CRITICALLY endangered….how many do you think are left in the world? • The unique mountainous habitat of this species in Peruvian Cloud Forest is particularly unique

5. When estimating population size it is important to collect RANDOM SAMPLES. • A sample is a part of a population, part of an area or part of some other whole thing, chosen to illustrate what the whole population, area or other thing is like. • In a random sample every individual in a population has an equal chance of being selected.

6. Random? • RandomDefinition (keystage 2) A term used in probability, relating to things that happen by chance. It means that there is no special pattern to the items or numbers that are selected or chosen, that is, they happen in a haphazard way.Found on http://thesaurus.maths.org/mmkb/entry.ht

7. http://www.actrandom.com/

8. Some fun

9. Fun Continued • 11) Take the second letter in the country name and think of a mammal that begins with that letter. • 12) Think of the most common color of that mammal.

10. Using Quadrats • Mark out area to be sampled. • Place quadrates ( 1 m2, 10 m2) randomly within the area. • Count how many individuals are inside each of the quadrates. • Calculate the mean number of individuals per quadrate. • Pop. Size = mean X total area area of each quadrat

11. SYSTEMATIC QUDRATS RANDOM QUDRATS Quadrat sampling is suitable for plants that do not move around and are easy to find.

12. Quadrat method can be used to determine: • POPULATION DENSITY = number of individuals of each species per area. • PERCENTAGE FREQUENCY = percent of each species found within an area. • PERCENTAGE COVER = percent of plant covering a given area.

13. Capture/Mark/Release/Recapture • Capture as many individuals as possible in the area occupied by the animal population, using netting, trapping or careful searching. • Mark each individual, without making them more visible to predators.

14. Release all the marked individuals and allow them to settle back into their habitat. • Recapture as many individuals as possible and count how many are marked and how many are unmarked. 10 marked 14 unmarked

15. Calculate the estimated population size by using the Lincoln Index: population size = N1 X N2 N3 N1 = number caught and marked initially N2= total number caught in 2nd sample N3 = number of marked individuals recaptured Most suitable for animals that move around and are difficult to find.

16. Assumptions: • The population of organisms must be closed, with no immigration or emigration. • The time between samples must be very small compared to the life span of the organism being sampled. • The marked organisms must mix completely with the rest of the population during the time between the two samples.

17. Change in the relative abundance of a species over an area or a distance is referred to as an ECOLOGIAL GRADIENT.

18. Changes in the distribution of animals with elevation on a typical mountain in Kenya.