Answer to Question #174940 in Microbiology for Aliya

Question

1. c)  Assume the population of Bacteria B completely dies off. Bacteria A are now transferred to an open environment where they have lots of room for growth and a continual supply of food. Over the course of three days, the population of bacteria steadily increases as follows:

 

 

Day 1: 1500 bacteria

Day 2: 3000 bacteria

Day 3: 7000 bacteria

Day 4: 13,000 bacteria

Is this population of bacteria r-selected or k-selected? Explain how you arrived at your answer. Hint: Review your definitions of “r” and “k.” (2 marks)

Answer 1

R-selected species generally are small and have short lives, so their best bet is to put their all energy into growth and reproduction. They grow rapidly and produce as many offspring as possible to carry on their genetic information .They may not be able to reproduce, if they can't grow and mature quickly enough. And since they lack parental care, r-selected species produce a whole bunch of cheap-quality (low-quality) offspring very rapidly, sometimes thousands of them at a time. Therefore, population of bacteria is R-selected.