Practice question · Select all that apply
Which are genuine advantages of multicellularity?
Hints
- Three are real gains; one reverses a cost of multicellularity.
- Only the germ line reproduces, every other cell is an evolutionary dead end.
Show the answer
- B. Better internal regulation of conditions
- C. Division of labour between specialised cell types
- D. Larger body size without a surface-area penalty for each cell
Why
Specialisation, size and homeostasis are the payoffs. The last statement is precisely a cost: somatic cells give up reproduction entirely, which is the sacrifice that makes a coordinated body possible.
Practise From Single Cells to Multicellular Bodies
The app has 4 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Biology I is free to start.
More questions on From Single Cells to Multicellular Bodies
- An adult human has roughly 10¹³ cells, all descended from one fertilised egg. Set the approximate number of…
- A differentiated cell has permanently deleted the genes it no longer needs.
- Arrange these stages of early animal development in order.
- Complete the account of stem-cell potency.
- Sort each outcome by whether it results from cooperation between cells or from its breakdown.
- Multicellularity requires somatic cells to act as evolutionary dead ends. What explains why natural selection…