reproduction

• Sexual reproduction involves the fusion of male and female gametes, known as fertilization
• Offspring from sexual reproduction contain a mixture of their parents' genes, leading to genetic variation
• Gametes, such as sperm and eggs in animals or pollen and eggs in flowering plants, only have half of the genetic material of a normal cell
• Human gametes have 23 chromosomes, while a normal human cell has 46 chromosomes
• When two gametes fuse together, the resulting cell will have 46 chromosomes, like a normal cell, due to the process of meiosis
• Sexual reproduction can occur without sex or intercourse, as long as there is the fusion of male and female gametes
• Asexual reproduction takes place with only one parent and does not involve the fusion of gametes
• There is no mixing of genetic material in asexual reproduction, leading to identical clones of the parent organism
• Eukaryotic organisms like plants, fungi, and some animals achieve asexual reproduction through mitosis
• Prokaryotic organisms like bacteria reproduce asexually through binary fission