Apply: animal behavior and offspring success

In Chiromantis hansenae tree frogs, the female parent stays with her egg clutch until the eggs hatch. During this time, the parent cares for the eggs by covering them with her body.

A scientist wanted to study the importance of this behavior in the wild. The scientist found

20

clutches of frog eggs. Then, the scientist removed the female parent from ten of them.

The scientist observed what happened to the eggs over time. The results of the study are shown in the following table.

	Number of clutches that survived	Number of clutches that died from drying out	Number of clutches that were killed by predators
Parent present	$8$ ‍	$0$ ‍	$2$ ‍
Parent removed	$0$ ‍	$8$ ‍	$2$ ‍

Based on the data in the table, what is the most likely reason that female tree frogs care for their eggs?

Middle school biology - NGSS

Course: Middle school biology - NGSS > Unit 2

Problem