Question

What are the two types of reproduction?

Answer 1

Hint: Reproduction is an important feature of the living organism. Through reproduction, the living beings produce offspring or its own kind. The reproduction takes place in two ways- one in which a single parent is involved and the other in which two parents both male and females are involved.

Complete answer:
To answer this question, we must know about the different types of reproduction in different organisms.
We know that producing or giving birth to a new being is the property of living beings. All the organisms undergo reproduction so as to give rise to an offspring. May it be a single cell organism like bacteria or multicellular beings like animals and humans give birth to a new one.
Basing on the number of parents or the gametes involved in the process, reproduction is of two types-

Asexual reproduction- It is the process in which only one parent is involved. This is a type of vegetative reproduction in which the offspring produced is the exact copy or the clone of the parent. The process of asexual reproduction is common in bacteria, microorganisms, hydra etc. This process takes place through binary fission, spore formation, budding etc. This mode of reproduction is faster and involves conservation of the genetic characters.

Sexual reproduction- In this process, the fusion of male and female gametes leads to the birth of a new one. In this the offspring produced has the character of both mother and father. This kind of reproduction is common in higher organisms and leads to genetic diversity. The fertilisation can be both internal as in case of humans and external as in case of aquatic beings.

Note: The cells undergo division by the process of mitosis and meiosis. The mitosis takes place in the vegetative cell and the meiosis takes place in the sex cells. Mitosis is essential for growth development and repair of worn out cells.