CBSE Class 10 Answered

Importance of sexual reproduction:

In sexual reproduction, there is mixing of male and female genes, giving rise to variations. Hence new combinations of characters appear in offsprings

It increases diversity giving rise to a greater variation among individuals and in the population.

Evolution and formation of new species is made possible with sexual reproduction.

In case of changing conditions, sexually reproducing organisms have greater diversity, enabling them to have greater survival chances.

Asexual reproduction has the following merits:

i) It does not require another partner, hence it is faster and easier than sexual reproduction

ii) Asexual reproduction allows an individual to pass on more of its genes.

iii) It takes less energy investment since sex structures don't have to be produced.

iv) It produces off new individuals that have the same genetic make-up that was already successful in that environment.

v) Another advantage of asexual reproduction is that the animal or pollen grains doesn't have to travel in order to propagate the species, which means it can conserve energy and be more discreet.

vi) Large number of offsprings can be produced in asexual reproduction.

vii) Asexual reproduction doesn't allow any type of genetic variation, this is an advantage, because otherwise any mutations or "bad" qualities will be passed on, and cannot leave the life chain of that species.

viii) Asexual reproduction is more reliable than sexual reproduction, because there are less steps to follow and therefore less can go wrong.