Variation

• What is variation?

  Differences between the members of the same species
• What are the different types of variation?

  Genetic, environmental, mixture, continuous and discontinuous
• What are examples of genetic variation?

  Skin colour, eye colour, blood type, tongue roller
• What are examples of environmental variation?

  Scars, accents, piercings, tattoos
• What are examples of mixture (environmental & genetic) variation?

  Height, weight, hair colour
• What is continuous variation?


  A characteristic that changes over a range of values e.g height and weight
• What is discontinuous variation?

  A characteristic where there are only a limited number of possible values e.g gender, blood group, eye colour
• What is asexual reproduction?

  Where only one parent is needed and there are no fusion of gametes. The products are genetically identical to the parent
• Examples of asexual reproduction:

  Bacteria, production of spores (by fungi), some plants (e.g strawberries)