Question

Some mammals can have large numbers of offspring over the course of their lives. how doeshaving a large number of offspring most likely play a role in natural selection?A. by decreasing the effects of random processes that reduce the opportunity of someoffspring to reproduce as adults.B. by increasing the number of individuals that migrate into new habitats and populateareas with different environmental conditions.C.by decreasing the chance of mutations in offspring which increases the difficulty forsurvival by those offspring that are better suited to the environment.D. by increasing the chance of having more variations of inherited traits expressed inoffspring which improves the likelihood of some offspring passing on their genes to thenext generation.

Answer 1

The correct answer is D. by increasing the chance of having more variations of inherited traits expressed in offspring which improves the likelihood of some offspring passing on their genes to the next generation. As more offspring is produced, there are more chances of inheriting useful traits that would have positive selection (they will survive and reproduce). Hence, the chances of surviving as a lineage increase.