Meiosis helps to fuel the incredible diversity of life on Earth
Meiosis is important because it ensures that all organisms produced via sexual reproduction contain the correct number of chromosomes.
Meiosis also produces genetic variation by way of the process of recombination. Later, this variation is increased even further when two gametes unite during fertilization, thereby creating offspring with unique combinations of DNA. This constant mixing of parental DNA in sexual reproduction helps fuel the incredible diversity of life on Earth.
Genetic Variation and diversity: Meiosis reduces the number of chromosome sets from two (diploid) to one (haploid), whereas mitosis conserves the number of chromosome sets. Therefore, mitosis produces daughter cells genetically identical to their parent cell and to each other, whereas meiosis produces cells that differ genetically from their parent cell and from each other. Hence, Meiosis produces genetic variety in gametes that propagate to offspring. Recombination and independent assortment allow for a greater diversity of genotypes in the population. Each of the homologous pairs of chromosomes may orient with either its maternal or paternal homologue closer to a given pole. Thus, there is a 50% chance that a particular daughter cell of meiosis I will get the maternal chromosome of a certain homologous pair and a 50% chance that it will receive the paternal chromosome. Thus, meiosis helps to generate improved variety, and results incredible diversity of life on Earth.