Re: A dumb(?) question

lhaarsma@OPAL.TUFTS.EDU
Wed, 16 Oct 1996 19:16:57 -0400 (EDT)

> This may be a FAQ, I don't know. If it is, I have yet to see it. My
> question is this: why are there male and female sexes? It seems to
> me that a more preferable condition in evolution's eyes would be
> to not have the dependencies to procreate. I should think that
> the ideal would be that every species reproduce by asexual means.
> With the exception of worms and I'm sure other species as well, this
> isn't the norm, in any kingdom. What is the benefit of having a male-female
> interaction/dependency? This would also seem to place an unnecessary burden
> on evolution as well during the evolution of higher forms.
>
> Is there a short, succinct answer to this, or is this swept under
> the rug of untestible time?

That's a very good question and a hot research topic, as a quick web
search for "evolution of sex" will show. The research is particularly
focussed on plants and animals which reproduce both sexually and
asexually, to try to determine not only the mechanisms, but also the
conditions under which one is more advantageous than the other.
Creating new alleles through recombination is thought to be an important
potential advantage of sexual reproduction. One hypothesis I've heard
is that it could help in resistance to parasites. I'm sure there are
other hypotheses, too, but that's about all I know.

Often-recommended books on the topic (though I haven't read them):

Maynard Smith, J., 1978, The Evolution of Sex: Cambridge, Mass.,
Cambridge University Press.

Williams, G. C., 1975, Sex and Evolution: Princeton, Princeton
University Press.

Loren Haarsma