Most people probably don’t realize this, but Bernice’s behavior makes perfect sense if you understand evolutionary theory. In evolutionary biology, organisms tend to follow one of two basic reproductive strategies. The first is to produce a large number of offspring while investing little in each individual offspring. This is known as the “r” strategy. The second is to produce only a few offspring but to invest greatly in each one. This is known as the “K” strategy. When a population of organisms is continuously below the carrying capacity of their environment, which can happen if said organism is subjected to intense predation, then there is little need for individuals of that organism to compete with one another for resources, because there is plenty for everyone. Consequently the ability of an individual’s offspring to compete with other individuals is unimportant. Instead the optimal reproductive strategy is simply to produce as many offspring as possible as fast as possible in order to more fully exploit the environment, without giving much concern to the genetic quality of said offspring or to their nurture. Thus the “r” strategy is more effective in such a circumstance. In contrast when a population of organisms is continuously at or near the carrying capacity of their environment, which tends to be the case among organisms which have few if any predators, then individuals of that organism are forced to compete with one another for resources because there simply isn’t enough for everyone. Consequently the optimal reproductive strategy comes to be not to simply produce as many offspring as possible, but instead to produce offspring of the highest quality possible and to invest as much as possible in them, while at the same time producing enough offspring to allow the population to steadily expand.
Pt 1:
Most people probably don’t realize this, but Bernice’s behavior makes perfect sense if you understand evolutionary theory. In evolutionary biology, organisms tend to follow one of two basic reproductive strategies. The first is to produce a large number of offspring while investing little in each individual offspring. This is known as the “r” strategy. The second is to produce only a few offspring but to invest greatly in each one. This is known as the “K” strategy. When a population of organisms is continuously below the carrying capacity of their environment, which can happen if said organism is subjected to intense predation, then there is little need for individuals of that organism to compete with one another for resources, because there is plenty for everyone. Consequently the ability of an individual’s offspring to compete with other individuals is unimportant. Instead the optimal reproductive strategy is simply to produce as many offspring as possible as fast as possible in order to more fully exploit the environment, without giving much concern to the genetic quality of said offspring or to their nurture. Thus the “r” strategy is more effective in such a circumstance. In contrast when a population of organisms is continuously at or near the carrying capacity of their environment, which tends to be the case among organisms which have few if any predators, then individuals of that organism are forced to compete with one another for resources because there simply isn’t enough for everyone. Consequently the optimal reproductive strategy comes to be not to simply produce as many offspring as possible, but instead to produce offspring of the highest quality possible and to invest as much as possible in them, while at the same time producing enough offspring to allow the population to steadily expand.