Pros And Cons Of Reproduction

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A Deeper Inquiry Into Reproduction Life requires reproduction in order to ensure continuation of species; in fact, one of the key facets for defining life is reproduction (Pillars of Life). Throughout the evolution of living things, organisms have developed different strategies for producing offspring. These strategies can be partitioned into two main methods: asexual reproduction, and sexual reproduction. Current knowledge maintains that asexual reproduction came first. However, one may wonder, why did sexual reproduction evolve? And if sexual reproduction is superior to asexual reproduction, why does asexual reproduction continue to exist? Why do some organisms have the ability to reproduce both sexually and asexually? Evolution may have…show more content…
This is not necessarily beneficial or detrimental to the overall fitness of the species; organisms with favorable characteristics are better able to pass their traits than unfit organisms, and frequency of traits in the population will tend to shift towards advantageous genes, provided the environment is selective. The mechanism of natural selection can take regardless of the reproductive strategy of the organisms, and microevolution, or a change in the frequency of alleles, is able to occur. However, asexual reproduction does contain some clear advantages over sexual reproduction, however. When a parent reproduces asexually, all of its genes are passed on to the next generation, proving twice as efficient as sexual reproduction, where only half of each parent’s genes are sent to the progeny. Furthermore, asexual reproduction can occur according to the needs of any one organism, and no other organisms are required to initiate reproduction. This freedom to reproduce whenever required is beneficial to the survival of the species, because a second mate is not necessary. Additionally, a population of asexually reproducing organism can repopulate very quickly. A single E. Coli bacterium, under ideal conditions, can divide into two bacteria in 20 minutes, and populate a colony of several million within a day (Fossum). In contrast, two humans would take centuries to reach even a population of one thousand. Admittedly, humans are multicellular and take much longer to reach maturity, so the comparison is imperfect. The point can be made, however: by the rules of arithmetic. Asexually reproducing organisms have the capability to populate at twice the rate as sexually reproducing organisms, assuming reproduction times are the same and only one offspring is produced. Some organisms are able to produce more than one offspring every time they reproduce, such as fungi spores and avian eggs, so the
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