Question

In which scenario would mitosis be least desirable in terms of a species' survival?

A species has little energy to devote to reproduction

A species is unable to travel far to find a mate

A species has to adjust rapidly to a changing environment

A species is preyed upon by numerous successful predators

Answer 1

A species has to adjust rapidly to a changing environment"

Sexual reproduction in the form of Meiosis is considerably more complex than Mitosis and thus through malfunctions and gene interactions offers a greater amount of diversity which would be important for adapting to an environment. Mitosis relies solely on mutations which, due to the high rate of reproduction imparted by such a simple system, do occur regularly but there is less room for adaption as the organism is mostly stuck with variations on one set of genes - most of which will be fatal.

All the other answers are situations where mitosis would be preferable as it allows:
-Rapid reproduction to survive culls be predators
-Uses less energy (when you consider that two organisms are required for meiosis)
-No travel is required

In reality few organisms are entirely aesexual. Many bacteria informally exchange bits of code with each-over thus somewhat overcoming the limitations of mitosis. In addition this can occur between species which is demonstrated in the extreme variety found in the microbial world.

Answer 2

thank you so much :)