Final answer:
The hypothesis suggesting that parents aim to maximize offspring survival through their reproductive strategy is termed 'selection' or 'survival of the fittest'. This concept involves a trade-off between offspring quantity and quality, particularly in species engaging in long-term parental care where fewer offspring are raised with a greater investment in each.
Step-by-step explanation:
The hypothesis that predicts parents will rear the number of offspring that maximizes the survival rates of offspring is known as selection, or 'survival of the fittest'. This concept is deeply rooted in evolutionary theory and ties into the general premise that individuals most adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and pass their traits to the next generation. The principle implies that an organism's reproductive strategy is centered around optimizing the chances of offspring survival, which might mean having fewer offspring but investing more resources into each (as seen in organisms that provide long-term parental care), or having many offspring in the hopes that at least some will survive (common in species with less intensive parental investment).
Organisms with long-term parental care, such as many mammals and birds, tend to have fewer offspring. This decrease in reproductive quantity is balanced by an increase in the quality of care, enhancing the survival and health of each individual offspring. In such a strategic approach, the death of a single offspring carries a greater weight, as opposed to species that produce many offspring but invest less in each, where the loss of one has a lesser impact on the overall genetic contribution of the parents to the next generation.