Sexual vs Asexual Reproduction

   Sexual reproduction has some benefits and some negative parts to it.  "An asexual female who appears in a population should have twice as many offspring as her sexual counterpart." (215).  This shows that asexual reproduction is much more efficient then sexual reproduction because it can do twice as much.  "After a brief and glorious flowering, asexuals vanish.  Which has led scientists to conclude that exclusive asexuality is an evolutionary dead end" (216).  This shows that without the mixing of genes organisms will become extinct very fast.  "'We have several ways. We pick up DNA that's loose in the environment.  We gather DNA from passing viruses.  We even plunder the genes of dead bacteria- the cognoscenti call it necrophilia.'" (217) This is an example of a asexual organism that plunders genes from other organisms to survive, E. coli.  "'Would be extremely different from each other.  Each will have accumulated different mutations.'"(222).  This quote shows how asexual organisms still create genetically different organisms through mutations.