Variation and Sexual Reproduction Flashcards
What are the costs of sexual reproduction?
males are unable to produce offspring, only half of each parents gamete is passed onto offspring and it disrupts successful parental genomes.
What are the benefits of sexual reproduction?
Theres an increase in genetic variation.
What does genetic variation provide?
Genetic variation provides the raw material required for adaption, giving sexually reproducing organisms a better chance of survival under changing selection pressures.
Use the Red Queen Hypothesis to explain the persistence of sexual reproduction.
Without such genetic variety, the Red Queen Arms race would stop. In other words, this variation can drive selection and evolution should the different genes and alleles provide the individual with an advantage and increased chance of survival.
What may select for sexually reproducing hosts?
Co-evolutionary interactions between parasites and hosts may select for sexually reproducing hosts.
What does it mean for parasites when a host reproduces sexually?
If hosts reproduce sexually, the genetic variability in their offspring reduces the chances that all will be susceptible to infection by parasites.
What are the benefits of asexual reproduction?
Asexual reproduction can be a successful reproductive strategy as whole genomes are passed on from parent to offspring.
In what niche is maintaining the genome of a parent is an advantage?
Maintaining the genome of the parent is an advantage in very narrow, stable niches or when re-colonising disturbed habitats.
What are examples of asexual reproduction in eukaryotes?
Vegetative cloning in plants and parthenogenesis in lower plants and animals that fertilisation are examples of asexual reproduction in eukaryotes.
How often and how much offspring are produced during asexual reproduction.
Offspring can be reproduced more often and in larger numbers with asexual reproduction.
Where is parthenogenesis more common?
Parthenogenesis is more common in cooler climates, which are disadvantageous to parasites, or regions of low parasite density or diversity.
How can mutations help organisms and plants that reproduce asexually.
Asexually reproducing populations are not able to adapt easily to changes in their environment, but mutations can occur that provide some degree of variation and enable some natural selection and evolution to occur
How do organisms that reproduce principally by asexual reproduction have variation?
Organisms that reproduce principally by asexual reproduction also often have mechanisms for horizontal gene transfer between individuals to increase variation, for example the plasmids of bacteria and yeasts.
What is meiosis?
Meiosis is the division of the nucleus that results in the formation of haploid gametes from a diploid gametocyte.
What do chromosomes appear as in diploid cells?
In diploid cells, chromosomes typically appear as homologous pairs.