Asexual Reproduction in Plants

Some species of plants have stems that bend over the ground. At the tips of the stems, roots can form that will lead to the development of new plants. In strawberry plants, above-ground stems are known as stolens. The stolens will produce new plants, known as "daughter" plants, on alternate nodes. Underground stems are called tubers, corms, bulbs, and rhizomes. These stems are used to store food for the plants as well as for asexual reproduction. Examples of plants that have these underground stems are daylilies and irises, which have rhizomes that spread quickly.

Leaves of some plants can also be instrumental in asexual reproduction. For example, bryophyllum is an ornamental plant that reproduces via its leaves. The leaf margins of this plant will create tiny plantlets. Eventually, the plantlets fall off the leaves and begin growing independently.

Roots are another common tool for asexual reproduction in many plants. For example, some trees spread through their roots, including aspen and poplar trees. The underground roots send up new stems that grow into mature trees. It's not uncommon for an entire grove of aspens or poplars to originate from a single tree.

It's possible to propagate new plants using asexual reproduction techniques. This enables scientists to choose specific traits in new plants, such as the flower color, resistance to certain diseases, and even fruit flavor. One method of plant propagation involves taking a cutting from a parent plant and rooting it to create a new plant. Grafting is another propagation method, often used to create new trees and shrubs. This process involves planting seeds to allow just the initial root systems and stems to develop for about a year. Then, scientists remove most of the stem from the new plant (known as the stock) as well as a twig from a mature plant (known as the scion). After attaching these two plant parts to each other, the scion should begin growing to produce a new plant.

Citrus trees engage in asexual reproduction using seeds, which is known as apomixis. One cypress species has also been discovered to reproduce via apomixis. Scientists are continuing to research and test the bounds of this type of asexual reproduction to learn how to make genetic clones of plants.

Some animals engage in asexual reproduction, too. When this happens, offspring develop as new growths directly on the parent animal. For example, jellyfish form buds that will break off the parent animal to have an independent existence. This process is known as budding. Coral will also create buds, but these buds don't detach. Instead, they remain attached to the coral parent, which leads to vast colonies of coral. Fragmentation is another type of asexual reproduction. In one example of this process, some small worms grow until they are mature, and then, they break up into several small pieces, with each fragment becoming a new mature worm.

In this process, female animals produce eggs, but the eggs become new animals without fertilization. Some fish, insects, and amphibians engage in parthenogenesis, but mammals usually require fertilization to reproduce. Some species will resort to parthenogenesis as a means of reproduction only during certain times of the year or under certain circumstances. For example, a few wasp species can become infected by bacteria, which can be passed to offspring. To prevent this, the wasps will reproduce without fertilization.

Asexual reproduction has a number of benefits, among them efficiency, since males are not required to produce offspring. This means that a species can reproduce more quickly, without waiting for fertilization to occur, and every offspring can produce its own offspring, making more of the species faster.

However, one key drawback is that while sexual reproduction naturally weeds out harmful genetic mutations over time, an asexual population will preserve and pass down these mutations. Sexual reproduction also promotes the evolution of a species, which can help it to survive in the face of threats like bacteria and viruses.

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