Lesson 10

What is reproduction?

Everywhere you look, you see living things. They come in all shapes and sizes.

Some are really big, like an elephant or giant trees

Others are really small like ants

fleas

blades of grass

Bacteria are even smaller…….. much smaller!

Plant or animal, large or small, all living things reproduce their own kind.

Reproduction is the life process by which organisms produce new organisms.

In other words, making babies.

Having a baby is reproduction.

So is planting a seed to grow a corn plant.

The new organism is called an offspring.

My sister Lynn is the offspring of

my parents.

Most organisms create new life through the process of sexual reproduction.

Sexual reproduction requires two parents.

One female One male

In sexual reproduction, cells from the two parents join to form a new organism.

Male organisms make male sex cells, sperm.

Female organisms make female sex cells, eggs.

The new organism grows from the joined cells. The new organism is not exactly like either of its parents. Instead, the new organism has some features of both parents.

Think about yourself. How do you look like Dad? How do you look like Mom?

Many plants reproduce sexually!Did you know that some plants are female and some are male?

During reproduction, the male sex cell, pollen, unites with the female sex cell, an egg.

From this you get a seed.

Some organisms reproduce without any sex cells!

This is called asexual reproduction. Only ONE parent is needed.

In asexual reproduction, the offspring look exactly like the parent.

Bacteria reproduces asexually. A bacterium grows to full size then splits in half. Now there are two bacterium.

Some plants also reproduce asexually. For example, strawberry plants.

The strawberry plants grow runners which root in the ground and grow new plants.