One of the major characteristics of life is reproduction. There are two types of reproduction: asexual and sexual reproduction. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of both types of reproduction. What do you think is the benefit of sexual reproduction that makes it so much more prevalent among living things?
What will be an ideal response?
The best answers should include the following:
Advantages of asexual reproduction - no need to find a mate, easier, quicker, safer, less expenditure of energy, preserves genetic make up of the parent
Disadvantages of asexual reproduction - no mixing of the genes to produce new genetic combinations that might survive better in a given environment
Advantages of sexual reproduction - produces many different genetic combinations, each of which might survive better in a particular environment (It's like playing the lottery. The more tickets you buy, the more chances you have to win.)
Disadvantages to sexual reproduction - the need to find a mate and convince that potential partner to engage in the act of reproduction, can be energetically expensive, partners engaged in reproduction are more vulnerable to predation, genetic make up of the parent is not fully conserved.
Benefit - Sexual reproduction is more prevalent because the ability to produce genetically unique offspring that can successfully survive in different environments is a very powerful evolutionary force.
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What will be an ideal response?
Except for the stop codons, the codons in the genetic code specify which of ____ amino acids to use
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In meiosis how many divisions occur and how many daughter cells are created?
A. one, four B. two, four C. two, eight D. one, two E. two, two
Both extremes of an array of phenotypes are favored in ________.
A. disruptive selection B. genetic drift C. directional selection D. stabilizing selection E. gene flow