Something Fishy Lab Report

Luke Johnson
Mrs. Norris
AP Environmental Science
11 October, 2014
Collaborators:
Hannah Whitt, James Hamil, Megan Redfern
Introduction:
Tagging has been used by scientists as a way of determining population sizes, track migration
patterns, and to track the health of a variety of species such as butterflies and fish. In order to
determine the population of a species a sample of the animals is captured, tagged, and would be
released to eventually naturally redistribute themselves. By taking random samples and determining
the percent tagged, biologists are able to hypothesize the population of that species in an area.
Problem:
How many fish are within an area (the bag)?
Hypothesis:
If my group and I were to capture and tag a handful of fish from the pond, then, by increasing
the number of samples, an accurate estimate of the size of the population will be shown through a
calculation with the use of a formula.

Parts of the Experiment:
Control Group: Number of Fish in bowl (Paper bag)
Experimental Group: Tagged fish species in bag
Independent Variable: Number of tagged species
Dependent Variable: Percent of tagged species recaptured
Control Variables: Location, person collecting fish, environment, type of beans
Materials:
Paper Bag
White Beans
Red Beans

Methods:
1. Obtain a bowl (bag) with your fish.
2. Do NOT count the number of fish in your pond yet.
3. Have one member of your group remove a large handful of fish.
4. Count the number of fish you just removed and write it in the table.
5. Replace these fish with tagged fish (in this case, coloured fish)
6. Mix your pond well to redistribute the tagged fish among the other fish.
7. One member at a time (and without looking), remove a handful of fish and record the number
of total fish in the sample, the number of tagged fish, and figure out the percentage of tagged
fish. (see chart)
8. Return your handful to the bowl. (Do NOT tag more fish)
9. Continue with this until you have taken 20 samples.
Data:
Original Number Tagged: 25
Sample # # of Tagged Fish in
Sample
Total Sample Size Percent Tagged in
Sample
1 0 25 0%
2 2 23 8.7%
3 7 38 18.4%
4 9 39 23.1%
5 5 29 17.2%
6 5 33 15.2%
7 2 28 7.1%
8 7 35 20%
9 8 30 26.7%
10 6 28 21.4%
11 1 26 3.8%
12 7 40 17.5%
13 5 31 16.1%
14 5 37 13.5%
15 3 23 13%
16 7 27 25.9%
17 4 33 12.1%
18 6 25 24%
19 7 31 22.6%
20 7 29 24.1%
Mean Percentage Tagged 16.52%

Data Analysis:
1. What is the mean of your percent tagged fish from your twenty samples? 16.52%
2. Using the following formula, determine an estimated population for your pond:
a. Population Size = (Number Originally Tagged/Mean of the Sample %s) X 100
b. 151 fish
3. Now, Actually count the number of fish in your bowl: 169 Fish
4. Find your percentage error by using the following formula: 10.65 % error
a. 100 X (Your estimate of population Actual size of population)/(Actual size of
population)
5. Does this method appear to be an effective way to assess population size? Why or why
not?
a. If there is no need to be exact then yes, this is an effective way to assess
population size. Having a 10% error is within an appropriate amount in order to
be useful in certain scenarios.
6. What concerns should a biologist have about a species habits before (s)he uses this
method to approximate the size of a population?
a. If a species covers a large area, or tagged fish leave an area and migrate then an
inaccurate reading of population size may ensue. The population size of the
area would fluctuate and there would not be one set number in an area to
predict.
Conclusion:
Our mean, or average, of the percent tagged fish from our 20 samples is 16.52%. We figured out
the estimated population size of 151 by taking the number originally tagged and dividing it by the mean
of the sample then multiplying that by 100. After counting, we found the actual number of fish in the
bowl to be 169. Then, we calculated a percent error of 10.65% by multiplying 100 by the estimate of
your population minus the actual size of the population all divided by the actual size of the
population. This method appears to be an effective way to calculate population size because the smaller
sample size allows for a smaller percent error of fewer than 10%, which proves that the calculations are
close to being precise. When using this method, biologists should take into account the location of the
habitat, the feeding times and mating patterns of the species, and the natural increase rate of the
animals in the habitat.
My hypothesis was correct in that, the more samples that you have, the more accurate your results
will end up being. The larger the sample size, the more accurate your samples will be. When finding out
estimate populations, many samples include the upper and lower extremes of number. When larger
amounts of information are taken in, a more accurate estimate can be displayed. Additionally having a
larger amount of data also gets a more diverse sample of information. This is why my hypothesis
of increasing the number of samples, an accurate estimate of the size of the population will be shown.









Work Cited
"Something_Fishy.doc - Google Drive." Something_Fishy.doc - Google Drive. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct.
2014.