An ecologist studying the breeding habits of birds sent volunteers from the local chapter of the Audubon Society into the field to count nesting sites for a particular species. Each team was to survey five acres of land carefully. Because she was interested in studying the distribution of nesting sites within a particular kind of ecological system, the ecolo- gist was careful to choose survey sites that were as similar as possible. In total, 24 teams surveyed five acres each, and reported the following numbers of nesting sites in each of the five-acre parcels:
|
7
|
12
|
6
|
9
|
|
5
|
2
|
9
|
9
|
|
7
|
3
|
9
|
9
|
|
5
|
1
|
7
|
10
|
|
1
|
8
|
6
|
3
|
|
4
|
5
|
3
|
13
|
a. Plot a histogram for these data.
b. What kind of theoretical distribution might you select to represent the distribution of the number of nesting sites? Why?
c. Estimate the parameters of the theoretical distribution by calculating the sample mean and sample variance.
d. Plot the probability distribution based on your theoretical model from parts b and c. How does it compare to your histogram from part a?