Marine science 3.2- reproduction

 The syllabus states:



Describe asexual reproduction as a single organism producing exact copies of itself 

Describe sexual reproduction as organisms producing male and female sex cells, which fuse to produce offspring with characteristics from both parents

For those of you who have or will do IGCSE Biology, this is in many way the same as Section 16.1 and 16.2 in the biology syllabus.

My Notes are here:

The IGCSE Biology notes can be found here:

The Key parts here is:

Asexual reproduction creates a copy, and its quick, can lead to rapid reproduction and eliminates the need for finding a partner. It's often thought of a method used in plants, algae and some invertebrates, but it can also be found in a few vertebrates

There are several ways for doing asexual reproduction:

Fission, in where a small (usually unicellular organism) splits into 2 identical organisms.

Budding: (as seen in Yeast) where there is a big mother cell and s smaller genetical identical daughter cell, that then grows larger over time

Vegetatative propagation, where a new organism grows from a specialised part of the mother organism. We see this in plants that spread by groing new "runners" from the roots

Asexual spore formation:, used by some fungi and algae

Fragmentation, where a new organism can grow from a fragment of the old one (seen for example in sea stars)

Parthenogenesis: which an unfertilized egg develops into a new individual. This is the type of axeual reproduction often seen in vertebrates

Sexual reproduction leads to a recombination of DNA. This have the advantage of genetic variation, and can lead to new adaptations in a changing enviroment.

It often takes more energy, there is the extra work in finding a partner, and the risk that this parthers DNA will not be a succesfull combination with yours