Sexual/asexual Reproduction

Question 1

Benefits of sexual reproduction

Answer 1

Greater genetic variation which allows organisms to cope with selection pressures and evolve changing environmental situations.
Raw materials required to keep running in red queen race between parasite and hosts

Question 2

Disadvantages of sexual reproduction

Answer 2

Disrupts a genome by passing on only half to offspring

Only half the offspring are able to produce offspring

Question 3

Genome disruption

Answer 3

Gametes are produced by the process of meiosis. The genome of both parents have to be halved and then they are combined during fertilisation. The alleles present isn’t the resulting genome is random

Question 4

Selection pressure

Answer 4

Any factor in the internal or external environment that reduces the reproductive success of a population and influences the frequency of traits in a population.

Question 5

Whej selection pressures are high, the rate of evolution is

Answer 5

Rapid

Question 6

Factors that increase the rate of evolution

Answer 6

Shorter generation times, warmer environments, sharing of beneficial DNA sequences between differnt lineages

Question 7

Asexual reproduction benefit

Answer 7

Whole genomes are passed from parents to offspring

Offspring is produced more often and larger numbers

Question 8

Asexual reproduction negatives

Answer 8

Do not easily adapt to environmental changes

Question 9

Why do organisms have mechanisms for horizontal gene transfer between individuals

Answer 9

To increase variation and get faster evolutionary change than organisms that only use vertical

Question 10

When is asexual reproduction especially useful

Answer 10

In very narrow, stable niches or when u are recolonising disturbed habitats

Question 11

Examples of asexual reproduction

Answer 11

Budding, vegetative cloning, parthenogenesis

Question 12

Parthenogenesis

Answer 12

The development of offspring from unfertilised eggs

Question 13

When is parthenogenesis most common

Answer 13

In cooler climates with low parasitic diversity

Question 14

Examples of parthenogenesis

Answer 14

Stick insects and Komodo dragons

Question 15

Problems of low variation

Answer 15

Change in environmental conditions could result in local population extinctions
Any predator, parasite or disease affecting the population would be likely to have wide range effects

Question 16

Binary fission

Answer 16

In the process of fission the parent cell is replaced by two daughter cells as it literally splits into twin cells of approximately equal size

Question 17

How to overcome lack of genetic variation

Answer 17

Sharing beneficial DNA sequences between different lineages to create genetic variation

Question 18

Types of genetic exchange

Answer 18

Transformation
Conjugation
Transduction