AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Answer and Explanation: The answer is C. Mitosis of fertilized eggs. Mitosis of fertilized eggs is not a source of genetic variation.

Detailed explanation-2: -The genetic diversity has three different sources: mutation, recombination and immigration of genes. Mutation is the driving force of genetic variation and evolution.

Detailed explanation-3: -Genetic variation can be caused by mutation (which can create entirely new alleles in a population), random mating, random fertilization, and recombination between homologous chromosomes during meiosis (which reshuffles alleles within an organism’s offspring).

Detailed explanation-4: -For example, there are genetic variations that arise in clonal species, such as bacteria, due to spontaneous mutations during mitotic division. Furthermore, chromosomes are sometimes replicated multiple times without any accompanying cell division.