Final answer:
The statement that 'Sexual reproduction involves fewer steps' does not illustrate a potential cost of sexual reproduction because it requires more steps than asexual reproduction, including finding mates and caring for offspring.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement which does NOT illustrate a potential cost of sexual reproduction is:
Sexual reproduction involves fewer steps.
This statement is incorrect because sexual reproduction actually involves more steps than asexual reproduction, including finding a mate, fertilization, and often, care of offspring. Contrarily, asexual reproduction, such as binary fission, budding, or vegetative propagation, involve relatively fewer steps as there is no need for mate finding or fertilization.
Other potential costs of sexual reproduction mentioned include using up resources and not being as cost-effective as asexual reproduction due to the energy spent in mate attraction and the fact that only half of the population (females) directly produce offspring. Sexual reproduction does result in greater genetic variation, which is beneficial for the survival of a species in changing environments but is not a cost.