Costs And Benefits Of Sexual And Asexual Reprodution

Question 1

What is the ultimate goal of reproduction?

Answer 1

The produce the maximum number of surviving offspring using the least amount of energy

Question 2

Reproductive effort associated with sexual reproduction

Answer 2

• potential mates must find each other
• more competition for mates
• needs to be carefully coordinated
• parental care of youth often needed

Question 3

Costs of sexual reproduction

Answer 3

• Males are unable to produce offspring
• Only half of each parents genome is passed onto offspring

Question 4

Problems with only half of each parents genome is passed onto offspring

Answer 4

Where a parental genome is successful, this success could be disrupted by only passing half of it onto their offspring as such offspring lose evolutionary fitness.

Question 5

Advantages of sexual reproduction

Answer 5

• the maintenance of a large gene pool
• the ability to cope with changing environmental situations
• organisms to participate in evolutionary arms races (parasite vs host)

Question 6

Why is asexual reproduction a successful reproductive strategy?

Answer 6

As whole genomes are passed on from parent to offspring. Can rapidly produce large numbers of identical offspring.

Question 7

Rapid colonisation

Answer 7

Just one parent can produce daughter cells and establish a colony of virtually unlimited size over time. Offspring can be produced more often and in larger numbers.

Question 8

Maintaining the genome

Answer 8

Is an advantage in very narrow, stable niches or when re-colonising disturbed habitats. There is no need for the fusion of gametes so there is no disruption of a successful parental genome.

Question 9

Mechanisms of asexual reproduction in eukaryotes

Answer 9

-vegetative cloning
-budding
-parthenogenesis

Question 10

Parthenogenesis

Answer 10

Reproduction from a female gamete without fertilisation. It is more common in cooler climates, which are disadvantageous to parasites or diversity.

Question 11

Problems with asexual reproduction

Answer 11

They are not able to adapt easily to changes in their environment.

Question 12

Horizontal gene transfer

Answer 12

It is the transfer of genetic material without reproduction within the same generation. This increases genetic variation and leads to rapid evolutionary change.