From giant stick insects to pythons, some animals can choose to reproduce sexually or asexually. In...

From giant stick insects to pythons, some animals can choose to reproduce sexually or asexually. In terms of parental contributions and genetic variation of the offspring, what are the benefits and drawbacks when sexually-reproducing organisms opt for parthenogenesis?

Expert Solution

In populations of animals where individuals are either scarce or isolated from one another, parthenogenesis removes the need for more than one organism to be present.Also Parthenogenesis normally produces only female offsprings, which has a definitive advantage over other forms of reproduction. Female offspring are able to contribute directly to the population of a species, as they are the sex that is able to bear and produce the next generation. Thus the rate of population increase will be higher among organisms that reproduce via parthenogenesis than among similar species that reproduce via a means that creates both male and female offspring.

Because organisms produced via parthenogenesis have a genetic code that comes from one individual instead of a combination of two, they benefit from genetic stability.

Parthenogenesis can be disadvantageous because it limits the genetic diversity that comes from repeatedly combining genetic material. This variation strengthens a species in the long term, and allows for the sexual selection of individual traits.

gladiator answered 2 years ago

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