Question

What will be the population size within 48 hours, if the paramecium undergoes 4 binary fissions in a day?
A. 32
B. 256
C. 64
D. 512

Answer 1

Paramecium is the unicellular organism. It undergoes binary fission that is production of offspring from the single cell. Two offspring are produced by this process. it occurs 4 times a day.

Complete answer:
Paramecium is a unicellular organism. Kingdom Protista includes the genus of ciliate protozoa in which paramecium is present. The size of the paramecium ranges from 50 to 300um. It can vary from species to species. It is mostly found in a freshwater environment. Several contractile vacuoles are present in parameciums that are located close to the surface that is near the ends of the cell. It helps them to regulate the water content within the cell. It can also be considered as the excretory organ.
Paramecium shows asexual mode of reproduction that is binary fission. It undergoes several kinds of nuclear, repeated binary fission. Two offspring can be produced as a result of each binary fission from a single cell. It may occur four times a day. Within 48 hours (2 days), it can undergo binary fission 8 times. From this we can find that after 48 hours, the population of paramecium will be 28 = 256.

Hence, the correct answer is option (B).

Note: Binary fission is mostly found in unicellular organisms. Amoeba, euglena, sponge, hydra, planarian, starfish, etc, are some organisms that undergo binary fission. The organisms which show binary fission are almost immortal. They never grow old. Paramecium moves and searches for its food. They contain both the characteristics of plants and animals.