Making Babies

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that sexual reproduction involves the coming together of genetic material from two parents to form progeny that combine genes from both of them. The author points out that the dominant mode of reproduction among vertebrates is oviparity, or ?egg laying?; but mammals reproduce through viviparity, or by retaining the egg(s) within the reproductive tract until embryonic development is complete. The paper relates that the process of sexual reproduction includes mating, sexual contact or fertilization, and incubation for embryonic development.

From the Paper:

"Parthenogenesis, or "virgin birth" is a common occurrence, especially among certain invertebrates such as cladocerans, brine shrimp, aphids, rotifers, and digenetic trematodes. Some invertebrates are able to alternate between sexual and asexual, parthogenetic, reproduction, although the cycle is thought to be fundamentally sexual. "Hermaphroditism is often considered to be accidental or developmental, caused by deviation or failure of the sex-differentiating mechanism. This type of deviation is characterized by gonadal tissues that range from equal portions of germ cells for each sex, to the predominance of one sex within an individual"."

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