asexual reproduction

• asexual reproduction involves only one parent organisim and using mitosis results in genetically identical individuals or clones.

Advantages

• it is safer than sexual reproduction
• noesn't rely on two individuals and finding a mate
• can give rise to large numbers of offspring radiply

Disadvantages

• the offspring are all genetically identical to the parent organism
• a problem if conditions change e.g temperature or a new disease is introduced into the environment
• as this can result in the destruction of an intire group of organisms as there is no room for genetic mutation or adaption therefore if one organism can't survive neither will the genetically identical others

• Binary fission - fission
• producing spores - sporulation
• regeneration - fragmentation and regeneration
• producing buds - budding
• new plant structure - vegetative propagation
• vertibrate asexual reproduction - parthenogenisis

• Fission involves mitosis followed by the splitting af  an individual
• method of reproduction only found in simple organisms
• 2 new individuals are usually formed (binary=2)
• bacteria and prokaryotes undergo this reproduction
• fast bacteria can reproduce every 20 minutes

• sporulation involves mitosis and the production of asexual spores capible of growing into new individuals
• usually survive adverse conditions
• easily spread over great distances
• most common in fungi and mosses and ferns

• occuring when organisms replace parts of the body after being damaged or lost
• e.g lizards loose their tails can often grow it back (shead tail if caught by it), starfish can reproduce themselves asexually from fragments of their original body
• this form of asexual reproduction helped scientists with artificial cloning

• budding is an outgrowth from the parent organism which produces a smaller but identical individual, purley via mitotic cell division
• yeast cells reproduce via budding as well as kacti

• a more sophisticated form of budding and occurs in flowering plants
• a plant forms a genetically identical structure which developes into a differentiated new plant, eventually becoming independant of the parent
• may be propigated from the steam, leaf, bud or root involving only mitotic cell division
• strawberry plants is an example

• very rare for vertibrates to reproduce via asexual reproduction however when they do its called Parthenogenesis
• been recorded in snakes, lizards, fish and turkey