It is the process in which a new individual is formed by the involvement of a single parent with or without the involvement of the gamete formation.
The individuals produced are genetically and morphologically similar.
It occurs in unicellular organisms where cells divide by mitotic division and no fertilization takes place. The division occurs very rapidly.
Types Of Asexual Reproduction
Binary Fission-
It is seen in amoeba and euglena.
The parent cell undergoes mitosis and increases in size. The nucleus also divides.
Two identical daughter cells are obtained, each containing a nucleus. Prokaryotes like bacteria majorly reproduce by binary fission.
Budding-
In this, the offspring grows out of the body of the parent.
It remains attached to the parent until it matures.
After maturation, it detached itself from the parent and lives as an individual organism.
This form of reproduction is most common in Hydras.
Fragmentation-
In some organisms like Planarians, when the body of an organism breaks into several pieces each piece grows into an individual offspring. This is known as fragmentation.
It can occur through accidental damage by predators or otherwise, or as a natural form of reproduction.
In few animals such as seastar, a broken arm grows into a complete organism.
Regeneration-
It is a modified form of fragmentation and occurs mostly in Echinoderms.
When a part of an organism, like an arm, detaches from the parent body, it grows into a completely new individual.
Parthenogenesis-
This is a form of asexual reproduction where the egg develops without fertilization.
This process occurs in bees, wasps, ants, aphids, rotifers, etc. Ants, wasps, and bees produce haploid males. Parthenogenesis has been observed in a few vertebrates such as hammerhead sharks, Komodo dragons, blacktop sharks when the females were isolated from the males.