Reproduction in Living Organisms
There are wide range of living organisms present on the earth . Every individual have different morphology , structure but the process of continuation of the species is the same . Did you guess what is the process for continuation of species - it is the Reproduction , a very important process of for living organisms living on the earth in which an organisms give rise to offspring which is similar to itself . The offspring again follow the same cycle of their parent i.e that is they grow , mature and reproduce and in this way there is a cycle of birth , growth and death .
Method of Reproduction - Reproduction enable the continuity of the species , generation after generation . There are basically two type of reproduction used by the living organisms . The Asexual Reproduction which involve involvement of single parent and Sexual Reproduction where the two cell of the opposite sex participate for the formation of the offspring .
Asexual Reproduction - Asexual reproduction is the reproduction in which only single parent is responsible for producing their offspring of their own kind i.e morphologically and physiologically similar structure of their parent . Asexual reproduction is common in the organism which have simpler body organisation . For example protista and monera in which the parent cell divide into two and give rise to new individual .
There are following mode of Asexual Reproduction -
Binary Fission - In this type the , the cell divides into two halve and each halve rapidly grow into adult .
Example - Amoeba and paramecium .
Budding - In this type , there is bulb like outgrowth which mature and separate and give rise to new one .
Example - Hydra
Vegetative Propagation - It is also the asexual mode of reproduction . The best example is Bryophyllum in which there is outgrowth on the edge of the leave which after getting suitable condition start growing and separate and give rise to new plant .
Another example of vegetative propagation is
Water Hyacinth which is also known by another name
The Terror Of Bengal , is a floating plant with thick , glossy , round leaves with inflated leaf introduced in the India because of pretty flower and shape of leaves . This plant grows anywhere there is standing water . It drain oxygen from the water which leads to death of fishes .
Sexual Reproduction - Sexual reproduction involves the formation of male and female gamete . These gamete fuse to form zygote which develops to form new individual . There are three phases of Sexual Reproduction -
Juvenile Phase - The period after birth to growth is known as Juvenile phase .
Reproductive Phase - The period in which organism sexually reproduce ,like in higher plant the process of flowering formation is also indication of these phase .
Some plants flower seasonally while some plants produce flower through out the year , few plants also exhibit unusual phenomenon , like in Bamboo plant the flower come only once in their life time that is in 50 - 100 year .
Senescent Phase - It is the phase in which the cell become old and finally reach to death.
