List 3 factors that can favor asexual or sexual reproduction
- environmental unpredictability
- number of niches
- parasite load
Define red queen hypothesis
sexual reproduction is an adaptation that allows hosts to produce sufficient genetic variation to keep up with the evolution of their parasites
*coevolutionary arms race
Define Asexual reproduction
Production of offspring from unfertilized gametes
List 2 forms of Asexual reproduction
- Apomixis: undergo mitosis-like cell division
- Automixis: undego meiosis, but diploidy is restored in many ways
Define twofold cost of sex
a substantial difference in fitness & number of offspring produced by asexual & sexual reproduction
What is the twofold cost of sex a consequence of?
anisogamy
Define anisogamy
when one sex can produce two different types of gametes
Define isogamy
when individuals produce one type of gamete
List the cost of sexual reproduction
- twofold cost of sex
- sex can break up favorable allele combinations
- finding mates
- performing courtship
- exposed to predation risk
- acquiring parasites
List the benefits of sexual reproduction
- sex remove harmful mutations
- speed up evolution by natural selection
- unite bene cial mutations
Parasites usually evolve faster than the host how can hosts overcome this problem?
by increasing genetic variation through sexual reproduction
* red queen hypothesis
