The study of early life stages has revealed the conservation of the genes responsible for ____.

A) food procurement
B) reproductive behavior
C) embryonic development
D) size
E) intelligence

The study of early life stages specifically focuses on embryonic development, which is the process of growth and development of an organism from a fertilized egg to a fully formed individual. This process is governed by a set of genes that regulate the timing and sequence of developmental events. The conservation of these genes across different organisms suggests that they play a critical role in ensuring the proper formation of the body plan and organ systems, and therefore have been conserved throughout evolution.