Male Mormon crickets choose larger females as their mates. Which of the following statements best interprets the graph?
A. Larger females live longer and thus produce more eggs.
B. Larger females are capable of storing sperm.
C. Larger females reproduce earlier than smaller females.
D. Larger females lay more eggs.
E. Larger females defend themselves better.
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 mate choice? 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 on Process:
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?
D. Larger females lay more eggs.
Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
The question is about mate choice in Mormon crickets, but to answer the question you need to interpret the data in a graph.
What type of thinking is required?
This is an analyze question. You need to use the data in the graph to pick the best choice.
Gather Content:
What do you already know about mate choice? What other information is related to the question?
This question is from the section of the textbook that discusses mate choices and parental investment in offspring. Some animals provide lots of care to a small number of offspring; some animals provide no parental care. If an animal does not provide parental care then the most common strategy is to produce as many offspring as possible. Mormon crickets do not care for their young. Is there a relationship between female body weight and the number of eggs produced? Is the relationship positive or negative? Is an increase in body mass increase in the number of eggs?
Choose Answer:
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
There are five choices presented, but the graph really only provides evidence for one of them. The only information that the graph provides is to show that larger females have more eggs. The other choices may or may not be true but the graph does not say anything about those choices.
Reflection on Process:
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 get the question right? You needed to extract the information from the graph and pick the correct choice. The information presented was about the relationship between mass and number of eggs, but that wasn’t going to immediately point you to the correct answer. The key to answering this question lies in your ability to extract the information from the graph.
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