Final answer:
In biology, organisms that produce many offspring typically invest less in individual parental care, leading to a higher chance of mortality among these offspring. This contrasts with strategies that involve producing fewer offspring with higher parental investment and survival rates.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question "As the number of offspring produced increases, the probability of their survival decreases" addresses a biological principle related to reproductive strategies and their impact on offspring survival. In general, organisms that produce a large number of offspring typically invest less in long-term parental care for each individual, which can lead to a higher probability of mortality among the offspring. This is in contrast to organisms that produce fewer offspring and invest significantly in long-term care, thereby increasing their young's chances of survival, albeit with a trade-off of having a smaller number of offspring to offset potential losses.
Different reproductive strategies have implications for population dynamics and survival. For example, internal fertilization is a strategy that typically increases the survival rates of offspring due to the protection and development within the parent's body. This strategy can be associated with having fewer but better-protected offspring. Conversely, strategies that lead to many offspring, such as in some species of fish or amphibians, generally have higher offspring mortality rates due to less parental investment and greater exposure to environmental hazards.
Key factors such as competition for limited resources, the variation of traits among individuals, and the inherent reality that more offspring are produced than can survive (C), influence the survival and reproductive success of a species as per the principles of natural selection.