Variations in Sexual Reproduction: Types and Significance!
All living beings exhibit variations in practically every character and in almost all directions. The differences shown by the individuals of a species and also by the offspring of the same parents are referred to as variations.
All organisms change themselves in order to adapt themselves to the changing environment, otherwise they fail to survive.
Variations are classified in two ways i.e.,
(A) As per nature of the cells it affects.
(B) As per degree of differences produced.
(A) As per nature of the cell produced variations are classified into two types:
(a) Somatic
(b) Germinal or blastogenic.
(a) Somatic variations:
Such variations are not inherited from parents and affect the somatic cells only. They are acquired by an organism during its own life time and are lost with death. Hence, such variations are also called acquired variations.
There are possible three causes for such variations:
(i) Environment:
Environment affects the morphology as well as physiology of living beings.