Explanation:
The variation that sexual reproduction creates among offspring is very important to the survival and reproduction of the population.
In sexual reproduction, different mutations are continually reshuffled from one generation to the next when different parents combine their unique genomes; this results in an increase of genetic diversity.
On average, a sexually-reproducing population will leave more offspring than an otherwise similar asexually-reproducing population.
Key Terms
sexual reproduction: Sexual reproduction is the creation of a new organism by combining the genetic material of two organisms. There are two main processes during sexual reproduction: meiosis, involving the halving of the number of chromosomes, and fertilization, involving the fusion of two gametes and the restoration of the original number of chromosomes.
asexual reproduction: any form of reproduction that involves neither meiosis nor fusion
