Question

The heritable variation among members of a population comes about because of A)mutation B)adaptation C)competition D)the enviornment

Answer 1

Genetic differences though environment factor and genetic drift can all contribute to the variation between individuals.

Answer 2

The term "heritable" indicates that the variation will affect the organism's offspring, so you should be looking for answers that will affect not only the individual, but also their offspring, in an appreciable way.
A) Mutation: a change in the genetic code of the organism.
B) Adaptation: an organism using the traits which are most necessary for it to survive.
C) Competition: the presence of one organism lowers the fitness of another organism. (ex: if a blue jay eats sunflower seeds, and a robin eats sunflower seeds, then introducing a robin into a blue jay's habitat will lower the fitness of the blue jay)
D) The environment: The surroundings or conditions in which an organism operates.

Which of these options will affect the organism's offspring most directly and cause variation in their genetic code?