During the Evening Hours You Observe Two Salamanders in a Pool

question 15

Multiple Choice

During the evening hours you observe two salamanders in a pool, one is leading the other as if in a dance.It appears to be a mating ritual.At the conclusion of the ritual, you do not see any eggs in the water.Several days later you return and find a clutch of salamander eggs developing in the pool.What is a likely explanation for these observations?

• A) Because the organisms were in water, the eggs and sperm were most likely spawned into the water, but the eggs were initially not apparent because the jelly around them had not yet swelled with water.
• B) The gametes were spawned into the water column at a later date.
• C) The male and female salamander copulated, and the female retained the eggs internally allowing them to develop until they could survive on their own.
• D) The male and female salamander copulated, and the female retained the eggs internally until hatching. The clutch of eggs found were from a different species of salamander.
• E) The male laid a packet of sperm such as a spermatophore, which the female picked up in her reproductive tract. Fertilization was internal, and the eggs were laid following fertilization.

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Definitions:

Confidence Interval

A range of values, derived from sample data, that is likely to contain the value of an unknown population parameter, expressed at a certain confidence level.

Mean

The mean of a collection of numbers, found by summing up all values and then dividing by the total count of those values.

Standard Deviation

A measure of the amount of variation or dispersion in a set of values.

Confidence Interval

A range of values, derived from sample data, within which there's a specified probability that the true parameter value lies.