Identifying Types of Reproduction

Honey bee (Apis genus)- The queen honey bee mates once to collect all the sperm she will need in her lifetime. Back at the hive, she uses the sperm to fertilize some eggs while leaving others unfertilized. Fertilized eggs become females and unfertilized eggs become males. One chosen female will be raised as the new queen

• sexual

• asexual

• both

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS3-2

Seahorse (Hippocampus genus)- The sea horse is unique among fish: it mates for life with the same partner. And it’s the dad who gets pregnant! A female deposits her eggs in the male’s pouch. The male then carries the eggs for 2-4 weeks until they hatch. Muscle contractions help the male give birth to about a hundred baby seahorses.

• sexual

• asexual

• both

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-4

Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)- Redwood trees are the tallest and largest trees in the world. Like other conifers, the trees bear male and female cones that rely on the wind for pollination. New trees also sprout from large, shallow roots, generating a circle of trees identical to the parent.

• sexual

• asexual

• both

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS3-2

Garden Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa)- The garden strawberry grows modified stems, called runners. Along the runners, tiny new strawberry plants take root. Each new plant is identical to the parent. Insect pollinators also visit strawberry flowers. Pollen from one flower joins the eggs of another to form seeds that cover the strawberry fruit.

• sexual

• asexual

• both

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS3-2

Earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris)- The common earthworm has both male and female reproductive parts. To reproduce, two worms come together to exchange sperm. Each worm deposits its own eggs and the donated sperm into a gooey cocoon that it leaves in the soil. Baby worms emerge a few weeks later.

• sexual

• asexual

• both

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-4

NGSS.MS-LS3-2

Volvox (Volvox aureus)- A volvox is a microscopic green alga that lives in pond water. Thousands of individual cells group together to form a hollow sphere called a colony. The spheres inside the colony are miniature clones of the parent. When they grow large enough, the parent colony falls apart and releases the spheres into the water.

• sexual

• asexual

• both

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS3-2

Sand scorpion (Paruroctonus mesaensis)- Sand scorpions dance together for several hours. When the male finds a good place to deposit a packet of sperm, he puts the female on top of it. When the dance is over, a female will occasionally sting her partner and make him her next meal!

• sexual

• asexual

• both

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-4

Red kangaroo (Macropus rufus)- Red kangaroos can leap as far as 12 feet in one jump! When it is mating time, males box each other with their powerful jumping legs. The winning male deposits his sperm in the female, where an egg is fertilized. After only 33 days, the undeveloped young is born. Safely tucked away in the mom’s pouch, it will continue to grow for another seven months.

• sexual

• asexual

• both

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-4

NGSS.MS-LS3-2

Flatback sea turtle (Natator depressus)- The flatback sea turtle lives off the coast of Australia. After mating at sea, the female returns to the same beach where she was born decades earlier. She lays her eggs at night and buries them in the sand, hiding them from predators. Two months later, more than 50 baby sea turtles emerge from the next and head for the ocean.

• sexual

• asexual

• both

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-4

NGSS.MS-LS3-2

Salmonella (Salmonella typhimurium)- Salmonella is a bacterium that causes food poisoning. In the small intestine, a single Salmonella cell divides in two, rapidly producing many copies of itself. The microscopic bacteria invade our cells, and our immune system responds. We experience fever, nausea and diarrhea.

• sexual

• asexual

• both

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS3-2