In understanding the problems that have arisen in attempts at human racial classification, why is it important to understand the difference between genotype and phenotype?
A) The phenotypical traits typically used to classify humans into races go together as genetic units.
B) Phenotypical similarities and differences always have a genetic basis.
C) Attempts at human racial classification have typically used genotypic traits like blood type as markers of common ancestry, and these traits pass on from generation to generation in discrete bundles.
D) Although phenotypic characteristics may change, the genetic material of populations stays the same for a long time.
E) Attempts at human racial classification typically used phenotypic traits like skin color as markers of common ancestry, but many such traits do not reflect the existence of shared genetic material. Instead, they are often the result of different populations biologically adapting to similar environmental stressors in similar ways.

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Understanding the difference between genotype and phenotype is important in understanding the problems that have arisen in attempts at human racial classification because attempts at classification have often used phenotypic traits like skin color as markers of common ancestry. However, many of these traits do not reflect the existence of shared genetic material, but are instead the result of different populations biologically adapting to similar environmental stressors in similar ways. This means that using these traits to classify humans into distinct races can be misleading and inaccurate.

In Understanding the Problems That Have Arisen in Attempts at Human