Reproduction
By Róza Zákány
University of Debrecen, Faculty of Medicine
Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology
Reproduction
• Asexual Reproduction
• Sexual Reproduction
• The Female Reproductive System
• Pregnancy and delivery
• Human embryonic and fetal development
• Male reproductive organs
• Gametogenesis
• Fertilization
• Sexual behavior and contraception
Asexual Reproduction
• Asexual reproduction involves
a single parent, and offsprings
are genetically identical.
• Asexual reproduction is highly
efficient because there is no
mating, which requires energy,
and all individuals in the
population can convert resources
into offspring.
• However, asexual reproduction
does not generate genetic
diversity, which may be a
disadvantage in changing
environments.
Asexual Reproduction
• Parthenogenesis is the
development of offspring from
unfertilized eggs.
• Arthropods, fish, reptiles, and
amphibians engage in
parthenogenesis.
• Most species that reproduce
parthenogenetically also use
sexual reproduction or engage
in sexual behavior.
• Some species (some ticks,
mites, and lizards) engage in
sexual activity even when egg
fertilization is unnecessary.
Sexual activity is needed only
to stimulate ovulation; the egg
then develops
parthenogenetically.
Asexual Reproduction
• In some species, parthenogenesis is part of the
mechanism that determines sex.
• In many species of ants, bees males develop from
unfertilized eggs and are haploid; females
develop from fertilized eggs and are diploid.
• Most females are sterile workers, but a select few
become fertile queens.
• After a queen mates, she has a supply of sperm
she controls, thus enabling her to produce either
fertilized or unfertilized eggs and to determine
how much of the colony’s resources is expended
on males.
Sexual Reproduction
• Despite the time, energy, and risk required,
sexual reproduction confers an overwhelming
evolutionary advantage: the production of genetic
diversity.
• Sexual reproduction requires the joining of two
haploid cells into one, which becomes a diploid
individual.
• These haploid cells, or gametes, are produced by
gametogenesis, involving meiotic cell
divisions.
• Two events in meiosis contribute to genetic
diversity: crossing over of homologous
chromosomes and independent assortment of the
chromosomes.
Sexual Reproduction
• The three fundamental steps of sexual
reproduction are:
Gametogenesis (producing gamets)
Mating (getting gamets together)
Fertilization (fusion of gametes)
• Gametogenesis and fertilization are fairly similar
in different groups of animals.
• Mating behaviors, however, show incredible
evolutionary diversity.
Sexual Reproduction
• The gonads (testes and ovaries) are the sites of
gametogenesis.
• Male gametes (sperm) move by beating flagella;
female gametes (eggs or ova) are nonmotile.
• The gametes are formed by germ cells which
originate very early in the developing embryo.
• The germ cells proliferate by mitosis, producing
the oogonia and spermatogonia. These multiply
by mitosis, producing primary oocytes and
primary spermatocytes which began the meiotic
divisions eventually.
Mature spermium and the secondary oocyte after the ovulation
head
acrosome
neck midpiece tail
mitochondria
centriole
Courting and mating
Sexual Reproduction
• Specific recognition
molecules mediate
interactions between
sperm and eggs.
• This is particularly
important in aquatic
species, such as sea
urchins, that release
sperm and eggs into the
surrounding water.
Sexual Reproduction
Fertilization is the union of haploid sperm and the oocyte to produce a single diploid cell,
the zygote. It involves a complex series of events:
External fertilization requires an aquatic habitat in
which the gametes are released for transport.
Sexual Reproduction
• Timing and amount of release are important, as
well as synchronization of male and female
reproductive activities.
• Day length, temperature changes, weather
changes, and social stimulation are important
regulators of external fertilization.
• Behavior, such as congregation of potential mates
in a suitable environment, may play a vital role in
bringing gametes together.
Sexual Reproduction
• Early vertebrates evolved in aquatic
environments, and the closest living relatives
(fishes) remain exclusively aquatic, most having
external fertilization.
• Mating behavior in most fishes brings the sexes
into close proximity for gamete release.
• Some sharks and rays have evolved fin structures
to permit direct transfer of sperm from male to
female.
• Amphibians were the first vertebrates to move
onto land environments, but still return to water to
reproduce.
Sexual Reproduction
• Reptiles were the first vertebrate group to solve the
problem of reproduction in dry environments by
producing shelled, amniote eggs.
• A hard shell protects the embryo and impedes water
loss while allowing the diffusion of O2 and CO2.
• Sperm must penetrate the egg before the shell forms.
Hence, the evolution of internal fertilization was
necessary.
Figure 43.7 The Shelled Egg (Part 1)
Sexual Reproduction
• Internal fertilization was an important
evolutionary step in the colonization of land by
animals.
• To enable internal fertilization, many accessory
sex organs have developed, such as the penis (a
tube for depositing sperm in the female
reproductive tract).
• The physical joining of the male and female
accessory sex organs is called copulation.
Sexual Reproduction
• Male snakes and lizards have paired hemipenes, which are blood-
inflated and inserted in the female cloaca (a common tube for wastes
and gametes) for gamete release.
• Some primitive species of birds have erectile penises to channel sperm
into the female cloaca.
• In bird species with more recent evolutionary origins, the male stands
on the female’s back in order to bring their genital openings close
together.
Sexual Reproduction
• All mammals have internal fertilization and, with the
exception of the monotremes, have done away with the
shelled egg.
• The young embryo remains in the female reproductive tract
through the early developmental period.