AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Reproducing sexually may disrupt beneficial genetic combinations and lower the mean fitness of offspring. Costs associated with the mating process: finding a mate can be costly in time and energy and may also increase risks of predation and parasite transmission.

Detailed explanation-2: -Sexual reproduction has been favored by evolution probably because the random recombination of genetic information improves the chances of producing at least some offspring that will survive in an unpredictably variable environment.

Detailed explanation-3: -Sexual reproduction is advantageous because many mutations can be eliminated from the gene pool at once when a bad offspring doen’t reproduce. When an individual with many mutations doesn’t survive, the individual’s mutations are not passed to the next generation.

Detailed explanation-4: -Sexual reproduction produces new combinations of genes, a process that is thought to prevent the accumulation of harmful mutations. A study in Nature Genetics now provides the first experimental evidence that recombining genes stops harmful mutations from piling up in humans.