Question

Which mode of reproduction gives rise to variation? Give the importance of variation in survival of species.

Answer 1

The reproduction which involves two parents and the offspring will have a combination of traits due to which it gives rise to variation. Variation is any difference between the cells, organisms or the group of organisms. In simple words, there is a difference in characteristic between individuals of the same species.

Complete answer:
Sexual reproduction give rise to these variations and asexual reproduction cannot do the same. There is presence of two parents in the sexual reproduction and because of this the offspring will have a combination of characters and that leads to the variation.
But in case of asexual reproduction two parents are not involved an thus the offspring do not have combination of characters. Also, in asexual reproduction, genes cannot get separated from the parent organism and hence the variations in the traits get accumulated across the generations or the variations are not seen.
Variations are of great importance in the survival of species:
-Genetic variation is the source of evolution and without evolution in the species, they won't be able to live and hence species would die out.
-Genetic variation is responsible for diversity in the traits and without this there will be no diversity in the traits.
-Due to genetic variations species are able to adapt to the changes but if there will be no variation then it will be so difficult for species to adapt according to the change and hence that species will get extinct.
-Genetic variation is really important for natural selection as according to the variations the species are adapted naturally as it can increase or decrease the alleles in the existing population.
Thus, Sexual reproduction gives rise to variation and variations are important for species for the diversity in trait and adaptations too.

Note: Sexual reproduction can give rise to the variations since there is involvement of two parents in this and it will lead to a combination of traits in the offspring and therefore variations are seen. Genetic variations are important for diversity in traits, natural selection and evolution. Without this, species would die as they won't be able to adapt to change.