What is Reproduction?

Reproduction is one of the basic things that living things, or organisms, do. Reproduction is making more of the same species of organisms. There are two types of reproduction: sexual and asexual reproduction.

Sexual reproduction is the process of male sex cells and female sex cells uniting to create a new organism. This organism has some genes, or features, that it inherited from the male and female parents.

Asexual reproduction is the process of reproduction done by only one cell. Examples of this are budding, vegetative reproduction, and binary fission. Budding is when the cell forms a small bud that breaks away and forms into a new organism when fully developed. Vegetative reproduction is done by plants. A new identical plant grows from part of another plant. Binary Fission is when a cell splits in half, and an identical organism is made.

Reproduction for Plants with Seeds

Plants with seeds reproduce sexually. The male sex, the sperm cells, are located in pollen grains, which are located in the anther. The female sex cell, the egg, is located in the ovary.

There are two types of pollination(the transfer of pollen from the anther to a stigma): self pollination and cross pollination. Self pollination is when the pollen goes from an anther to a stigma of the same flower. Cross pollination is when pollen gets transferred to the stigma of another flower.

Cross Pollination

First, the sperm cell must join with the egg cell. Pollinators are a vital part of the reproduction of a seed plant. Sticky pollen grains in the anther stick to the pollinator(Remember that the sperm cells are located in the pollen grains). The pollinator flies off to another flower, and unknowingly deposits it off there. The pollen lands on the stigma.

Next, when the pollen lands on the stigma, a tube from the pollen grows into the ovary. The pollen moves down the tube, and the sperm cells join with the egg in the ovary. The process of the sperm and egg joining is called fertilization. The outcome of fertilization is a seed.

Seeds spread away from it’s parent plant. It might get stuck to an animal’s fur, carried away from the plant by water or air, etc. If seeds do not spread away from it’s parent plant, there would be too much competition for food and nutrients. If plants are away from each other, there isn’t as much competition.

Self Pollination

Cross pollination is almost the same thing as self pollination. The only difference is that self pollination occurs between one flower and another flower which are both part of the same plant.

Reproduction for Plants without Seeds

Seedless plants produce asexually. Seedless plants do not have seeds. Instead, they have spores. Spores are cells that grow into new organisms. Due to dry air, pressure builds up in the plant, which releases thousands of spores into the air. The spores grow into new plants. The new plants will release their spores, restarting the cycle.