Practice question · Multiple choice
What best explains why sexual reproduction persists despite its twofold cost?
Hints
- The cost is real, so the benefit must be substantial.
- Think about what a clonal population cannot do when the environment shifts.
Show the answer
B. It generates variation, which pays off in changing environments and against parasites
Why
Sex trades reproductive efficiency for variation, and variation is what lets a lineage track a moving target, most sharply a coevolving parasite. Preserving genotypes intact is the asexual advantage, and sex produces fewer offspring per parent, not more.
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