The population in question is snails in both a muddy area(where there is little plant life), and an area covered in vegetation.
What I am looking for is the method and why it is best for this situation, thanks in advance
What I am looking for is the method and why it is best for this situation, thanks in advance
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for snail population- capture, mark, release, recapture method (or capture-recapture method in short).
You capture a number of snails, mark them in a way that won't harm them but still be permanent enough, release those snails that you marked, and recapture them after 1 night, 2 nights, a week or any other time period of your choice (enough to let the marked ones blend somewhat homogeneously into the population). Then you calculate the number of individuals in the whole population by a proportioning the initially marked individuals to the number of marked individuals in the recaptured group. (look up the exact formula, i can't remember exactly.) THis is best because this is a mobile population and usually not easy to see. This method ensures that you get a pretty good estimate of the whole population.
For vegetated area, use quadrat sampling. Make quadrats of known dimensions, lay them around the vegetated area and count how many plants of a species falls into each quadrat. You don't have to put quadrats to every inch of the area, just sample. So maybe sample 10or 20 or more quadrats according to how big the area is and how accurate you want your results to be. Then again, use proportioning. (look this up for more detail)
This is the best because this is an immobile population, and random quadrats can eliminate the effect of a species being very dense in a part of the area but found very rarely in another part.
hope this helps
You capture a number of snails, mark them in a way that won't harm them but still be permanent enough, release those snails that you marked, and recapture them after 1 night, 2 nights, a week or any other time period of your choice (enough to let the marked ones blend somewhat homogeneously into the population). Then you calculate the number of individuals in the whole population by a proportioning the initially marked individuals to the number of marked individuals in the recaptured group. (look up the exact formula, i can't remember exactly.) THis is best because this is a mobile population and usually not easy to see. This method ensures that you get a pretty good estimate of the whole population.
For vegetated area, use quadrat sampling. Make quadrats of known dimensions, lay them around the vegetated area and count how many plants of a species falls into each quadrat. You don't have to put quadrats to every inch of the area, just sample. So maybe sample 10or 20 or more quadrats according to how big the area is and how accurate you want your results to be. Then again, use proportioning. (look this up for more detail)
This is the best because this is an immobile population, and random quadrats can eliminate the effect of a species being very dense in a part of the area but found very rarely in another part.
hope this helps