Question

Meerkats, a small mammal species, typically produce many offspring and they provide a high level of care. which survivorship curve fits with the life history characteristics of meerkats?

O type i (k-selected species)
O type ii (in-between k and r species), not selected
O type iii (r-selected species), not selected
O type iv (low-biomass species)

Answer 1

Meerkats are best described by a Type I survivorship curve because, while they produce many offspring, they also provide a high level of parental care, leading to higher survival rates of their young and mortality occurring mainly in older individuals. Therefore correct option is A

Step-by-step explanation:

Meerkats, a small mammal species, are known to produce many offspring and provide a high level of care. This breeding strategy suggests that they do not fit neatly within the extreme ends of the r-selected species that produce many offspring with little parental care, or K-selected species that produce fewer offspring with more parental care. Given that meerkats provide substantial care to their offspring, this high parental investment aligns more closely with a Type I survivorship curve, typically associated with species that have high survival rates of juveniles and die mostly in older age, rather than a Type III curve which is characteristic of organisms with very high juvenile mortality rates.