Which of the following is a problem or limitation with heritability estimates?The Limitations of Heritability Estimates: A Review

The most common use of heritability estimates is to calculate the amount of phenotypic variance that’s attributable genetic variation within a particular population. Although heritability estimations are very popular, there are limitations to their use. These should be taken into account before interpretation. The one limitation to heritability estimations is their inability to account for environmental factors. Forbes (2019) states that heritability measures only assess the contribution of genes while environmental influences on phenotypic outcomes cannot be taken into consideration. Thus, they provide a narrow picture of how genetics and their relative impact. Heritability estimates cannot be used to determine the phenotype of specific populations because the effects of genetics and environment on it can vary depending on which population they are applied (Vinkhuyzen, et al. 2016). These heritability calculations cannot be used to extrapolate across populations, and can be misinterpreted. Heritability estimates are based on the total variability within a population and do not give insight into individual variations (Jung 2020). In some instances, the accuracy or exaggeration of heritability estimates can be too low or wrong (Cote and al., 2020).