how would i reply to this 18. Describe how a researcher would determine the size of a penguin population in Antarctica using the mark and release...

how would i reply to this 18. Describe how a researcher would determine the size of a penguin population in Antarctica using the mark and release method.

According to OpenStax (2017), the mark and recapture method is a technique used to measure the population size in smaller groups of organisms such as mammals. The technique involves marking a sample of the captured animals in some way and then releasing them back into the wild with the rest of the population. The researchers then take a new sample using the same method. The researchers then determine how many of the animals in the first sample are in the second sample, this then gives the researchers an equation. A researcher could determine the penguin population in Antarctica by using this method. For example, if researchers in Antarctica caught 60 penguins and marked them and then the second sample, caught and marked 30 penguins. Of the 30 penguins that were caught, 10 of them were already marked from the first catch and release. Researchers would multiply the first catch by the second catch and then divide by the number of penguins that were already marked in the second catching to get the population size. (60 x 30=1800/10=180)

Reference: 

OpenStax. (2017, July 17). Population and Community Ecology. Retrieved February 19, 2018, from @9.25:H3Ioyt4m@2/Population-Demographics-and-Dy