Broad sense heritability is the correct answer because it assesses the total genetic contribution to a trait, encompassing all genetic variance, including additive, dominance, and epistatic effects. By evaluating heritability from a population perspective, it helps researchers understand how much of the variation in a trait within a population can be attributed to genetic differences among individuals. This measure is critical in fields such as evolutionary biology and quantitative genetics, as it informs on the potential for traits to respond to selection pressures based on genetic variation.
Narrow sense heritability focuses specifically on the additive genetic variance, which is more relevant to predicting response to selection in breeding and evolutionary contexts. Reverse heritability is not a standard concept in genetics and does not apply to trait evaluation in the same way. Environmental heritability, while considering environmental factors, does not provide a comprehensive view of genetic contributions to traits.