Abstract
By far, sexual reproduction is the more common pattern among living vertebrate forms and its widespread occurrence suggests that it is the plesiomorphic, or primitive, reproductive mode among the vertebrates. In all sexually reproducing forms, parental genomes that lie within an individual recombine to produce specialized sex cells containing one half the chromosomal complement of other cells in the body. As part of successful reproduction, these haploid cells fuse to form a single diploid zygote. Thus, sexual reproduction involves combination of genetic information between two genetically recombined and distinct individuals.
“Sexual reproduction is . . .the masterpiece of nature” -Erasmus Darwin
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© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Lombardi, J. (1998). Modes of Reproduction. In: Comparative Vertebrate Reproduction. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4937-6_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4937-6_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-7240-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-4937-6
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