Q.Comment on the statement – Meiosis enables the conservation of specific chromosome number of each species even though the process per se, results in reduction of chromosome number.

This statement is accurate, and it becomes clear once meiosis is viewed together with the fertilisation step that always follows it, rather than in isolation.

• Taken on its own, meiosis does indeed cut the chromosome number in half, producing haploid gametes from diploid cells.
• But at fertilisation, two such haploid gametes fuse, and this fusion restores the chromosome number back to the full diploid value characteristic of the species. …

At first glance, the statement sounds contradictory: how can a process that specifically halves the chromosome number be responsible for keeping that number constant? The resolution lies in looking at meiosis as one half of a two-step cycle, not as a process in isolation.

• Meiosis is a special kind of cell division that halves the chromosome number, producing haploid cells from a diploid parent. This happens in specialised diploid cells during gametogenesis, and it results in gametes that each carry a haploid (n) set of chromosomes.
• Sexual reproduction depends on the fusion of two such gametes at fertilisation. When two haploid gametes fuse, the fusion restores the chromosome number to the full diploid (2n) value characteristic of the parent species. …

Step 1 — Note the apparent contradiction: meiosis halves the chromosome number, yet the species' chromosome number stays constant across generations — resolve it by looking at the full sexual-reproduction cycle, not meiosis alone.

Step 2 — Meiosis (during gametogenesis) converts a diploid (2n) cell to haploid (n) gametes — a halving.

Step 3 — Fertilisation then fuses two haploid (n) gametes back into a diploid (2n) zygote — a restoration. …