Which of the following is correct for r-selected species?

Which of the following is correct for r-selected species?
  1. Large number of progeny with small size
  2. Large number of progeny with large size
  3. Small number of progeny with small size
  4. Small number of progeny with large size

Solution

Population evolve to maximize their reproductive fitness in the habitat in which they live. This fitness towards maximizing reproductive is called as Darwinian fitness (high r-value). According to this, under a particular set of selection pressures, organism evolves towards the most efficient reproductive strategy. Some of these are as follows:

(i) BREEDING HABIT: Some organisms breed only once in their lifetime (pacific salmon fish) while others breed many times during their lifetime (most bird and mammals)

(ii) NUMBER AND SIZE OF OFFSPRING: Some produce a large number of small-sized offspring (oysters, pelagic fishes) while others produce a small number of large-sized offspring (birds and animals).
 

Asked in: NEET 2016 (Phase 2)

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