Biology Question

Question

What benefit do parthenogenic animals and apomictic plants have over their sexually reproducing counterparts? Why do these  successful asexual species not survive over extended time periods? Is a plant's ability to self-pollinate an illustration of apomixis?

Answer 1

Hello!

Apomixis is Greek for "away from" and "mixing." In terms of genetics, this means that this only applies to plants or species that reproduce asexually without fertilization.

Parthenogenic animals and apomictic plants have a distinct advantage because they are able to reproduce without the need to find a partner. It saves time and energy. This is an efficient way to reproduce and has some advantages for that reason.

However, there are some disadvantages which lead these species to not survive over long time periods. One major disadvantage is they are nature's version of copy and paste, there is no genetic variation. As a result, there are not changes in gene expression or evolution as we see in other species due to crossing over during cellular reproduction. There also isn't any introduction of new genetic material (from other partners) to bring about positive changes needed to persist (survive) over time. These species basically get stuck in place in terms of evolution and are not able to adapt quickly enough to thrive.

I hope this helps to answer your question. Good luck!