Analyse the Advantages and Disadvantages of Sexual and Asexual Reproduction

Organisms engage in reproduction in order to pass on a piece of themselves as an instinctive survival response.

There are two types of reproduction – asexual and sexual, with each method having its positives and negatives. Considering this, some organisms do one or the other, or even both!

Organisms that sexually reproduce include humans, while an example of asexual reproduction is yeast budding. However, some organisms alternate between the two methods depending on the conditions.

You may know that mosquitoes help to transmit malaria. These malarial parasites reproduce in two ways - at first sexually in the mosquito, but once transmitted into the human host, they reproduce asexually.

Like yeast, many fungi reproduce asexually, often using spores, but also sexually to maintain variation.

Plant seeds are made sexually but asexual reproduction also happens, such as with strawberry plant runners or daffodil bulb division.

Now it's time for some questions!