Question

Life span can be defined as

• A. Metabolically active life of organisms.
• B. Life from birth upto reproduction.
• C. Period from birth to natural death.
• D. None of the above.

Answer 1

The correct option is C Period from birth to natural death.

The most accepted definition of life span is the time period from birth to natural death. There are several issues with this definition, for example it is argued that in higher sexually reproducing organisms life starts before birth at the time of formation of zygote itself, in higher plants and several organisms like fungi it is difficult to ascertain exact time of birth. Hence, birth and death need to be defined separately depending on the organisms but the time period between these two events will always be called as life span of that organism.