Final answer:
Organisms with a fast life history strategy do not benefit from delayed reproduction because it increases the risk of not passing on their genes before dying. Their strategy entails early reproduction to ensure gene transfer at the expense of their own longevity and size, which can offer protection against predators.
Step-by-step explanation:
An organism with a fast life history strategy is adapted for quick reproduction and does not benefit by waiting to reproduce because they usually sacrifice long-term growth and health maintenance for the advantage of producing offspring early in life. This strategy ensures they can pass on their genes before the risk of predation or environmental challenges eliminates their chance to do so. By investing their energy reserves early into producing offspring, these organisms have a better chance of leaving descendants, even though it comes at the cost of their own survival post-reproduction.
Species that reproduce only once in their lifetime, like bamboo and Chinook salmon, utilize this strategy to the extreme by using all their energy in a single reproductive event. This semelparous reproduction implies that delaying reproduction would not be advantageous, as it increases the risk of dying before passing on their genes. The energy trade-off for early reproduction is evident in many small organisms and those exhibiting semelparity, as it allows them to maximize their evolutionary fitness by ensuring some offspring survive despite high predation risks.