Final answer:
If every elephant offspring survived and reached their maximum reproductive potential, the result would be overpopulation due to exponential population growth exceeding the environment's carrying capacity, leading to increased competition for resources and environmental strain.
Step-by-step explanation:
If every offspring of elephants survived and all their offspring also reached their maximum reproductive potential, we would expect to see: D) Overpopulation. This would occur because habitat and resources available to elephants are limited, and if the population were to grow exponentially without any of the offspring dying, it would soon surpass the carrying capacity of their environment. As a result, there would be increased competition for limited resources, which contradicts option A, decreased competition.
While option C, increased genetic diversity, could be a potential outcome due to more offspring surviving, overpopulation would have more immediate and noticeable consequences. Higher population densities can lead to decreased life spans of individuals and increased chances of offspring dying due to resource scarcity and environmental stress.
In a real-world scenario, concepts like rmax (the maximum growth rate) and the effects of predation and food availability come into play. If a species like elephants had unlimited resources and no predation, rmax would indeed be greater, leading to rapid population growth, which could potentially result in overpopulation without proper management, such as relocation or contraception.