Thursday, February 12, 2026

Is Nature really female? The vast majority of reproduction (Plants, bacteria and fungi) does not need males...

 

  • asexual reproduction allows for rapid expansion and survival without mates, notably in insects and various reptiles.
  • Plants/Microbes: If including plants and bacteria, the percentage of reproduction not needing males is extremely high, as many plants can reproduce clonally, and bacteria primarily reproduce asexually
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    Based on ecological and botanical research, a vast majority of plants possess the capacity for clonal (vegetative) reproduction, with estimates suggesting that approximately
    80% of angiosperm species can reproduce in this manner.
  •   Clonal reproduction is more common in certain groups, with studies indicating that over 29% of herbaceous species are clonal, while roughly 5.8% of woody species are clonal,  
  • Clonal propagation occurs through various vegetative structures, including tubers, rhizomes, runners, andstolons.
  • Environmental Influence: Clonal reproduction is often favored over sexual reproduction in extreme or stable environments where sexual recruitment is difficult, with studies showing up to 89% of reproduction in certain arid, high-stress areas being clonal.
  • Agricultural Importance: A large number of crop plants are propagated exclusively or primarily through clonal methods (cuttings, grafting) to maintain specific genetic traits, with the USDA holding over 40,000 such accession
  •  Plants constitute the overwhelming majority of Earth's biomass, accounting for approximately 80% to 82.5% of the total (roughly 450 gigatons of carbon). Bacteria are the second largest component at about 13% to 15%, while fungi constitute roughly 2% of the total biomass.
  •  Together, these three groups make up over 97% of the total
    gigatons of carbon (Gt C) that represents all life on Earth. Other life forms, including animals and viruses, constitute the remaining small percentage.
  •  Angiosperms are the largest, most diverse group of land plants, comprising over 300,000 species of flowering, seed-bearing plants that produce fruit. These vascular plants, making up about 80% of all green plants, include almost all agricultural crops, trees, shrubs, and grasses, featuring a unique, protected, double-fertilized seed within a fruit... Clonal seeds only occur through a process called apomixis, which allows a plant to bypass meiosis and fertilization, resulting in an embryo that is genetically identical to the mother plan...
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    early all angiosperms, including those that reproduce clonally, possess the genetic and structural capacity for double-fertilized seeds. Double fertilization—one sperm uniting with the egg, another with the central cell—is a defining characteristic of nearly all flowering plants, creating a zygote and a nutritive endosperm.
    • Dual Strategies: Many angiosperms are facultative apomicts, meaning they can switch between clonal reproduction (apomixis) and sexual reproduction.
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