1. A population is a group of the same species that live in the same area and sometimes compete or can mutually benefit one another. A group of organisms will only be considered a population if they live in the same area in space and time. N is the true population size for a given group of organisms. This number is unlikely to be completely known. Whereas N hat is an estimate of population size.
2. There are two methods of sampling, direct and indirect. Direct sampling is an actual count of a population in a given area and is generally not easily feasible. Whereas indirect sampling is an estimate with subsamples of a population in a given area. This requires some extrapolation in order to estimate the total population, generally …show more content…
Estimating a deer population (N) is considerably different than estimating a deer mouse population (N). Considering the fact that the home range for a deer population is much larger, the deer are physically larger, and would be very difficult to avoid double counting. The more space needed to be covered in the study the likelihood of double counting would be very high. Utilizing methods where a large area of land can be covered in a short period of time would be beneficial for estimating the population number such as using a helicopter and counting all of the deer observable. Whereas a deer mouse is significantly smaller, has a smaller home range, and lives underground. This would make counting the deer mouse difficult because you cannot see them unless they appear above ground or get trapped in a small mammal trap.
4. Estimating for a deer population (N) is considerably different than estimating a big bluestem population. The methods for estimating a big bluestem would be extremely difficult because grasses are known for being colonial, meaning that the root system is interconnected to other big bluestems that originate from the same seed making it very difficult to distinguish and count an individual. The methods for estimating a deer population are described