Do you agree that every living thing needs two parents to be created? This is actually incorrect. Whilst we are more familiar with sexual reproduction involving two parents, asexual reproduction only needs one parent. All the offspring are clones. They are genetically identical to one another and to their parent. You may already know that many plants use asexual reproduction, like spider plants. But do you know that bacteria reproduce asexually in a process called binary fission and even some animals use asexual reproduction? It is much less common, but is seen in some simple ones, like hydra, aphids and starfish. In fact, aphids can produce 600 billion offspring in one season by using asexual reproduction. But how does this work? Asexual reproduction does not involve six cells or fertilization. Only one parent is involved and so there is no fusion of gametes and no mixing of genetic information. The offspring are all clones. Sexual reproduction occurs using normal cell division known as mitosis. To learn all about this, watch our video on mitosis. In plants, it can happen in a number of different ways. Potatoes and daffodils, for example, develop underground food storage organs that the following year will detach and develop into new plants. The spider plant produces plantlets along branches that are clones, as do strawberries on runners. Hydra are multicellular animals. They use budding to reproduce asexually. Little buds grow on the outside of the parent and then break off to form separate individuals. Starfish can either split in half, in which each half develops new arms to form a full starfish. Or, if a starfish loses an arm, it will regrow that arm and the lost arm will over time develop further arms itself, turning into a complete starfish. Bacteria have the simplest process of all. They just divide as seen in mitosis to form two identical individuals. One major advantage of asexual reproduction is that populations can increase rapidly, as we saw with a 600 billion aphid offspring. They don't have to waste time and energy finding a mate. Also, by being clones, they can exploit a suitable habitat quickly. They fill the niches, making it harder for predators and competitors to invade. However, it also comes with disadvantages. As everyone has a clone, there is no genetic variation. If the climate or selection pressure is changed, then the population will be much lower to adapt, as there is no diversity. By being identical, the population is best suited to only that one habitat and all have the same vulnerabilities to disease. The same traits also mean the same weaknesses. If a predator or disease adapts to kill one individual, then they can take out the entire population, resulting in extinction. So, genetic variation has a lot of merits. Interestingly, some organisms can combine both asexual and asexual reproduction depending on the circumstances. Malarial parasites reproduce asexually in the human host, but sexually in the mosquito. Many fungi reproduce asexually by spores, but also reproduce sexually to give variation. Many plants produce seeds sexually, but also reproduce asexually by means of runners, such as the strawberry plants, or Bob division, such as daffodils. And even the aphids alternate between sexual and asexual reproduction, asexually in the spring and summer, and then sexually in the winter, as the eggs can survive the cold better. So there we have asexual reproduction. It only requires one parent, meaning the population can grow very quickly, and everyone is a clone of one another. It is more commonly seen in plants and bacteria, but can also occur in simple animals like starfish, aphids, and hydra.