Biology 1001A Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Evolutionary Arms Race, Symmetry In Biology, Parental Investment
8 Apr 2018
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Document Summary
Sexual reproduction & recombination is not the ancestral state, but it is the most common mode of reproduction for animals. Disadvantages associate with reproducing sexually (cost of males and mating) Most species do have sex at least at one point. Sexual recomb. speeds up the rate of getting rid of harmful mutations & making helpful mutations. These bene ts take a long time to recruit. Over 100s and 1000s of generations, populations that reproduce sexually are less likely to get extinct. Problem: a traits never spread simply b/c they bene t the group/ population. Traits almost never spread simply bc they bene t the population, selection happens at the moment, in the present. Unless there is an immediate advantage in individuals that reproduce sexually, sexual reproduction should not be wide spread. Therefore, mutational explanations are not suf cient to explain why sexual reproduction is so wide spread. Since natural selection only acts in the moment, and only in individuals.
