Synonyms
Definition
Anisogamy can be defined as a mode of sexual reproduction in which fusing gametes, formed by participating parents, are dissimilar in size.
Introduction
The most important event of an organism’s life is to pass on genes to the next generation. Some organisms choose asexual mode, while some prefer more costly process, i.e., sexual reproduction (Barnard 2004). The sexual reproduction is considered as one of the greatest paradoxes of evolution as it applies twofold costs to its practitioners and still prevails in population as a major form of reproduction. The twofold cost of sexual reproduction is (I) cost of meiosis and (II) “fertility cost” of sex (Smith 1978). Whenever female reproduces sexually, she throws away half of her genotype, which foist 50% cost of meiosis. This loss is fulfilled by benefits of sexual reproduction. But this one is considered as misbelief aroused due to our thinking in terms of individual selection (Treisman and Dawkins 1976...
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References
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Kumar, R., Meena, M., Swapnil, P. (2019). Anisogamy. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_340-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_340-1
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