Question

Houseflies have a life cycle of about 30 days and lay five to six batches of 150 eggs in a few days. After a day, the eggs hatch into larvae (maggots), which pupate and hatch into houseflies. Within two to three days, the young flies are ready to reproduce. Ants also have a four-stage life cycle (egg, larva, pupa, adult). Only queens lay eggs, but they can lay millions (most of which become workers or males), and they can live in the nest for decades. Workers maintain the nest; they and the males live much shorter lives. How would you compare the life cycle strategies of these two insects?

	Houseflies are completely r-strategists; ants are completely K-strategists because of the long-lived queen and the stable nest environment.
	Houseflies show mostly r-strategies; ants show some aspects of K-strategy (stable nest environment, long-lived queen).
	Both are r-strategists because they live short life spans.
	Both are r-strategists because they lay many eggs.
	Both are K-strategists because they reproduce more than once.

Answer 1

Houseflies show mostly r-strategies; ants show some aspects of K-strategy (stable nest environment, long-lived queen)

r-strategists are characterized by shorter life span, semelparity and production of a large number of offsprings in a fluctuating environment. So housflies show r-strategies.

K-strategists are characterized by a longer life span,iteroparity and production of small number of offspring in a stable environment. Ants (queen) are somewhat k-strategists because of a longer life span and a stable environment.