Give 3 advantages of sexual reproduction.

  1. It produces variation in the offspring, so the species is less likely to be wiped out by extreme events.


  1. If the environment changes, the variation will allow the species to adapt/evolve by natural selection.


  1. Humans can speed up natural selection via selective breeding to gain certain benefits (e.g. selectively breeding certain crops to increase food production).

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Give 3 disadvantages of sexual reproduction.

  1. It requires two parents.


  1. It can require large amounts of time and energy to search for a mate.


  1. Many species spend resources impressing their mates even though it doesn't aid survival.

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Give 4 advantages of asexual reproduction.

  1. Only one parent is needed.


  1. It is more time and energy efficient as parents do not need to find a mate.


  1. It is faster than sexual reproduction.


  1. Many identical offspring can be produced when conditions are favourable.

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Give 2 disadvantages of asexual reproduction.

  1. Low genetic variation means that offspring are more susceptible to extreme events (like the spread of a new disease).


  1. The population would have a smaller chance of adapting to new conditions.

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Describe 3 examples of organisms that can reproduce both sexually and asexually. 

  1. Malarial parasites reproduce asexually in the human host but sexually in the mosquito.


  1. Many fungi reproduce asexually by spores but also reproduce sexually to give variation.


  1. Many plants produce seeds sexually but also reproduce asexually - for example, by runners in strawberry plants or bulb division in daffodils.

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