8 public questions tagged with this topic.
K-selected species invest in high parental care, ensuring the survival of fewer but more competitive offspring.
Ref: NCERT Class 12 Biology Chapter 11: Organisms and Populations Population Interactions - Competition - Competitive Exclusion
K-selected species produce fewer offspring, invest in parental care, and have longer lifespans.
Ref: NCERT Class 12 Biology Chapter 11: Organisms and Populations Life History Variations and Population Interactions - Overview
Agave is a classic semelparous plant: it grows vegetatively for years, stores resources, produces one exceptionally large flowering stalk, sets seed, and then the reproductive rosette dies. The defining feature is the single reproductive event. Stable resources or repeated seasonal flowering would instead support continued maintenance and iteroparity, while juvenile care is not the relevant mechanism in this plant. The r/K framework is best treated as a continuum. At one end, rapid development and many inexpensive offspring suit transient opportunities; at the other, slower development and gre
Ref: Ecology: Concepts and Applications, Molles, 9th Ed., Ch. 12
Altricial young hatch or are born in an underdeveloped condition. They may be blind, poorly insulated, weakly mobile, or unable to feed independently, so parents must provide warmth, food, defense, or transport. Precocial young are comparatively mature and mobile soon after birth. Altriciality concerns developmental state and dependence, not whether adults reproduce once or repeatedly. The r/K framework is best treated as a continuum. At one end, rapid development and many inexpensive offspring suit transient opportunities; at the other, slower development and greater investment per offspring
Ref: Ecology: Concepts and Applications, Molles, 9th Ed., Ch. 12
“High fecundity reduces lifespan” for the trade-off between fecundity and survival suggests. This relationship follows from the ecological mechanism represented by the terms in the item, not merely from an association between their names. Survivorship curves summarize age-specific mortality: Type I concentrates loss late in life, Type II approximates a constant hazard, and Type III concentrates loss early. They are empirical patterns, not rigid taxonomic rules. The remaining alternatives—“High reproduction = long life”, “More survival = less reproduction”, “Long life increases fecundity”—refer
Ref: Plant Strategies and Vegetation Processes, Grime, 2nd Ed.
“More number = smaller size” for in trade-off between offspring number and size. This relationship follows from the ecological mechanism represented by the terms in the item, not merely from an association between their names. Survivorship curves summarize age-specific mortality: Type I concentrates loss late in life, Type II approximates a constant hazard, and Type III concentrates loss early. They are empirical patterns, not rigid taxonomic rules. The remaining alternatives—“Large number = larger size”, “Small number = smaller size”, “They are unrelated”—refer to different states, processes,
Ref: Plant Strategies and Vegetation Processes, Grime, 2nd Ed.
“Fecundity vs. parental care” for which of the following is a trade-off pair. This relationship follows from the ecological mechanism represented by the terms in the item, not merely from an association between their names. Life-history traits reflect allocation among growth, maintenance, survival, and reproduction. Energy invested in many offspring cannot simultaneously be invested in large offspring, prolonged care, or future breeding, creating measurable trade-offs. The remaining alternatives—“Growth vs. temperature”, “Longevity vs. competition”, “Dispersal vs. territory”—refer to different
Ref: Plant Strategies and Vegetation Processes, Grime, 2nd Ed.
The keyed exception is “Show early semelparity.” In the context of which of the following is false regarding k-selected species, that statement differs from the governing ecological pattern and must be evaluated against the mechanism rather than accepted from wording alone. Mechanistic support comes from showing how resource limitation, enemies, mate availability, or physiological stress changes demographic performance. A descriptive association alone does not establish regulation or causation. The remaining alternatives—“Low reproductive rate”, “High parental investment”, “Thrive in stable en
Ref: Campbell Biology, Urry et al., 12th Ed., Unit 8 Ecology
