Question

Explain with an example the relation between offspring number versus their size.

Answer 1

Solutions- This is the perfect example of trade off in the course of evolution. Suppose if higher number of offsprings are produced then higher number of energy is invested in making gametes and less is the parental care , the organism couldn't support parental care for numerous offsprings .This happens in insects and they have high mortality rate in early stages. In contrast if lower number of offsprings are produced that imply that less is the energy is invested in gamete formation and more energy is invested in parenting accompanied by lower mortality rate . If the resources are scarce so parents cannot support higher number of offsprings with optimal size, but fewer number offspring could be supported with optimal size in the same environment. This is the classic example of tradeoff in nature followed by different species .Higher number of organisms could not be supported with a optimal size as resources are always limited in nature.