Reproduction in organisms.

Life span. The period from birth to natural death of an organism represents its life span.
(it maybe as short as a few days or as long as a few 1000 years)
life span of organisms isn’t necessarily correlated/linked with their sizes.
(ex. Parrot and crow. Almost same size but a huge difference in their respective life spans.)
(ex. Mango tree has much life span than the peepal tree)
{factors on which life span depends upon..}
death of every individual is certain ie no organism is immortal except for unicellular organisms.
{why unicellular org. Are immortal.. }

Life spans.
elephant. Rose. Dog. Butterfly. Crow. Banana tree. Cow. Parrot. Crocodile. Horse. House fly. Rice plant. Tortoise.
Banyan tree.
rabbit. Deer. Cheetah. Man. Weeds. Carrot/turnip/beetroot. Bryophyte (mosses).

Reproduction is defined as a biological process in which an organism gives rise to young ones (offspring) similar to
itself. The offspring grow, mature and in turn produce new offspring. Thus, there is a cycle of birth, growth and death.
Reproduction enables the continuity of the species, generation after generation.

Based on whether there is participation of one organism or two in the process of reproduction, it is of two types:
asexual and sexual.

Asexual reproduction.
When offspring is produced by a single parent with or without the involvement of gamete formation, the
reproduction is asexual.

As a result, the offspring that are produced are not only identical to one another but are also exact
copies of their parent.
The term clone is used to describe such morphologically and genetically similar individuals.
Asexual reproduction is common among single-celled organisms, and in plants and animals with
relatively simple organisations.

in unicellular:
binary fission, multiple fission, budding.

In lower plants and kingdom fungi:

fragmentation & regeneration, sporulation (zoospores, conidia, budding-buds, gemmules)

In higher plants/ vegetative reproduction:

the units of vegetative propagation such as runner, rhizome, sucker, tuber, offset, bulb are
all capable of giving rise to new offspring. These structures are called vegetative propagules.

the aquatic plant ‘water hyacinth’which is one of the most invasive weeds found growing wherever
there is standing water. It drains oxygen from the water, which leads to death of fishes. Since it
can propagate vegetatively at a phenomenal rate and spread all over the water body in a short
period of time, it is very difficult to get rid off them.

Artificial mode of vegetative reproduction:

Cutting, layering, grafting (bud, approach, tongue, crown, side), tissue culture.

Significance of asexual- merits and demerits.

Sexual Reproduction
When two parents (opposite sex) participate in the reproductive process and also involve fusion of male and female
gametes, it is called sexual reproduction.
{factors that determine how an org. Reproduces..}