Biology & Life Sciences
Intermediate

Lincoln-Petersen Estimate

Population size from mark-and-recapture sampling.

Formula

N=M×CRN = \frac{M \times C}{R}

Variables

MMarked first
CCaptured second
RRecaptured marked

Example

M=50,C=40,R=10 ⇒ 200

Did You Know?

Ecologists estimate wild animal populations by tagging some, releasing them, and seeing how many turn up again.

ecologypopulationsampling