In the phalarope, or wadepiper bird, the male is unusual in playing the larger parenting role -- he performs all the egg incubation and chick care. What unusual behavior might you predict for the female of the species?

Question

A.  The female provides sperm to fertilize the male's eggs.
B.  The female is part of a large harem of females, under the domain of a single male.
C.  The females compete to mate with the males, who choose among them.
D.  The females have dull, brown coloring that keeps them well-camouflaged.


Clarify question:
  What is the key concept addressed by the question?

What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content:
What do you already know about traditional roles of mate selection and parental investments? What other information is related to the question? 

Choose Answer:
  Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?

Reflection:
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

C.  The females compete to mate with the males, who choose among them.


Clarify question:
  What is the key concept addressed by the question?
Mate selection and parental investment involved in this species where the male and female roles are reversed.

What type of thinking is required?
This is an analyze question, you will need to break down the choices into their components to find the correct answer. You are given choices for female breeding behaviors and are being asked to pick the best one.

Gather Content:
What do you already know about traditional roles of mate selection and parental investments? What other information is related to the question? 
The key is to recognize the role of parental investment in raising offspring. Normally male animals provide less care, female choose the best quality male they can find and then do most of the parental care (if any parental care is being provided). The situation with these birds is reversed. Females still produce eggs and males still produce sperm, the behaviors are different but the sexes are the same. A single male could not possible maintain a large number of females if her is providing all of the parental care. If females are going to compete for males then the expectation is that the females will be the brightly colored sex (that is the case with these birds).

Choose Answer:
  Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
The correct choice is that females compete and males choose the females.

Reflection:
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
Did you select the correct answer? Recognizing that the roles are reversed in this species is the key of finding the answer to this question.