What you’ll learn to do: Understand how sexual reproduction leads to different sexual life cycles

Living things can reproduce asexually (offspring have one parent) or sexually (offspring have two parents). In asexual reproduction, offspring are genetically identical to their parents; in sexual reproduction offspring have a mix of traits from their parents.

A vast majority of plants and animals reproduce sexually. Additionally, a portion of organisms that typically reproduce asexually can also reproduce sexually in the right circumstances. There are a variety of methods that living things can use to reproduce. In this outcome we will learn about the primary processes animals and plants use to reproduce, as well as the benefits to sexual reproduction as a whole.