PHS Science Department
CAPT Life Science Open-Ended Questions:
1. Frogs in a Connecticut Lake
Scientists are concerned about the discovery of deformed frogs in a Connecticut lake. What is a possible hypothesis for the cause or the deformities and how could you test for this hypothesis? Explain your answer fully.
This is a released open ended question on the CAPT test. It is designed to measure how scientifically literate you are. To answerer the question you will need to demonstrate your knowledge of basic principles of Biology and Ecology. Furthermore it will determine if you can design an experiment to answer your hypothesis. Good Luck
Possible answers:
A pollutant or toxin in the lake may be causing the deformity. A test could be done to see if the pollutant is present or more prevalent in the deformed frogs. A controlled test with normal frogs that is exposed to exposed to the pollutant and another control group of frogs that is not exposed to the pollutant.
Or.... A virus or other disease may have infected the frogs in the lake resulting in the deformities . Scientists would have to isolate the cause of the disease and test for it in the deformed frogs and compare the results with normal frogs.
Or.... The deformity may be caused by a genetic mutation. Genetic mutations are typically caused by radiation or chemical changes in the environment. Cross-breeding experiments can be done using deformed and normal frogs to determine if the cause is genetic.