Question

Some organisms undergo asexual reproduction through mitosis, while others reproduce sexually, and their cells undergo meiosis to produce gametes. If there were drastic changes in temperature in an ecosystem , which process do you predict would be most beneficial to a species?
A. Meiosis: It increases genetic variation, which helps ensure the species will survive.
B. Meiosis: It produces more daughter cells, which increases the population of the species.
C. Mitosis: It causes genetic mutations, which may be favorable to the species.
D. Mitosis: It produces more offspring in a short time, which makes it likely that some will survive.

Answer 1

Answer:

The answer is A.

Explanation:

Answer 2

The answer is A. Meiosis: It increases genetic variation, which helps ensure the species will survive.

Meiosis increases genetic variation. This means there is a great variety of genotypes among the population. Hence, there are organisms able to survive in a wider range of temperature. If there were drastic changes in temperature in an ecosystem, some of the organisms will survive because their genotype allows them to live in such conditions. If there were no variety thanks to meiosis, all of the organisms would die. And that is not beneficial to a species.
Imagine on the other hand that mitosis occurred. Mitosis does not provide a variety of genotypes and all of the organism will be the same. If there were drastic changes in temperature in an ecosystem, all of the organisms would die because all of them could respond to the change in the same way.