Why don't the biggest and strongest individuals in a population a...

Question

Why don't the biggest and strongest individuals in a population always produce the most offspring?
a. The biggest and strongest individuals always have higher fitness.
b. In some environments, being big and strong lowers fitness.
c. Sometimes the biggest and strongest individuals may choose to have fewer offspring.
d. Sometimes the number of offspring is not related to fitness.

Accepted Answer

Welcome back. Let's look at our next problem. It says which of the following is not included in the fitness equation. Well, let's recall that when we talk about fitness, when it comes to evolution, we mean the ability of an organism to survive and reproduce. So let's look through our answer choices. Looking for the one that is not part of the fitness equation. Or the amount of fitness that an organism has. Choice A says survival. While survival is part of the fitness equation. Fitness is the ability of an organism to survive. That's part of it can't reproduce if it hasn't survived to reproductive age. So Choice A. Is not our answer. Choice B. Says ability to attract a mate that would also be part of this because in order to reproduce it has to be able to obtain a mate. So Choice B. Is not our answer. Choice C. Says the number of offspring produced. That also would be a part of fitness because the more the offspring the more likely the organism passes on its own genes. So that's not our answer either. We're on a choice D. Which is body size. And that's our correct answer. Because body size doesn't determine fitness. Uh just depends on the conditions the organism lives in. So a large body size doesn't guarantee greater fitness. And some conditions a smaller body size might be better. So, again, which is not included in the fitness equation choice the body size. See you in the next video

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