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It was just a typical day in Biology. I was bored out of my mind and my teacher was rambling on about species population. I perked up in my seat when I heard her say, "Today we will be going into the lab!" I anxiously gathered my things and followed the class across the hall to the lab. In this lab, we did this cute little experiment on animal population, and it was so cool that I decided to share it with you guys.
For this experiment you will need, a paper bag containing beans, a calculator, and a dark colored permanent marker to color the beans.
Procedures
1.) Create a data table including each of your five trials, the total caught, the number caught without marks, and the number caught with marks. I would upload a picture, but my computer's being mean to me right now.
2.) Reach into your bag and remove 20 beans.
3.) Use the marker to color these beans. They represent the caught and marked beans.
4.) When the ink has dried, return the beans to the bag.
5.) Shake the bag. Without looking, reach in and remove 30 beans.
6.) Record the number of marked beans (caught and marked) and the number of unmarked beans (caught and unmarked) in your data table as Trial 1.
7.) Return all the beans to the bag.
8.) Repeat steps five to seven four more times for trials 2-5.
9.) Calculate averages for each of the columns.
10.) Using average values, calculate the original size of the bean population in the bag by using the following formula:
M= the number initially marks.
CwM= the average number caught with marks.
Cw/oM= the average number caught without marks.
Calculated Population Size= Mx(CwM + Cw/oM)/ CwM
11.) Record the calculated population size in the date table.
12.) To verify the actual population size, count all the beans in the bag and record this value in the data table.
Hopefully you had as much fun as I did with this experiment. Let me know how it went in the BBS. =)
*Monae929
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