Advantages & disadvantages of sexual reproduction table

• An additional advantage of sexual reproduction is our ability to use it and control it for our own needs:
  • Natural selection can be speeded up by humans in selective breeding to increase food production
  • we have controlled sexual reproduction in cows and selectively bred them to produce offspring that produce more milk and more meat than they would have under natural conditions

Advantages & disadvantages of asexual reproduction table

• As only one parent is needed, asexual reproduction is more time and energy-efficient than sexual reproduction, as asexually reproducing organisms do not need to find a mate

• Some organisms reproduce by both methods depending on the circumstances. For example:

Malarial parasites

• Malaria is caused by parasites that are carried by mosquitoes
• The parasites are transferred to a human when the mosquito feeds on the human’s blood
• These malarial parasites reproduce asexually in the human host, but sexually in the mosquito

Fungi

• Many fungi reproduce both asexually and sexually
• These species of fungi release spores, which develop into new fungi
• These spores can be produced via asexual or sexual reproduction
• Spores that are produced via sexual reproduction show variation (they are genetically different from each other)

Plants

• Many plants produce seeds via sexual reproduction but are also able to reproduce asexually
• They reproduce asexually in different ways:
  • Some plants (eg. strawberry plants) produce ‘runners’ (stems that grow horizontally away from the parent plant, at the end of which new identical offspring plants form)
  • Some plants (eg. daffodils) reproduce via bulb division (new bulbs form from the main bulb underground and then grow into new identical offspring plants)

Some plants grow side shoots called runners that contain tiny plantlets on them. These will grow roots and develop into separate plants

Some plants develop underground food storage organs that will develop into next years plants – bulbs are an example of this