A major question is why sexual reproduction persists when [[parthenogenesis]] appears in some ways to be a superior form of reproduction. Contemporary evolutionary thought proposes some explanations. It may be due to selection pressure on the [[clade]] itself—the ability for a population to radiate more rapidly in response to a changing environment through sexual recombination than parthenogenesis allows. Alternatively, sexual reproduction may allow for the "ratcheting" of evolutionary speed as one clade competes with another for a limited resource. | A major question is why sexual reproduction persists when [[parthenogenesis]] appears in some ways to be a superior form of reproduction. Contemporary evolutionary thought proposes some explanations. It may be due to selection pressure on the [[clade]] itself—the ability for a population to radiate more rapidly in response to a changing environment through sexual recombination than parthenogenesis allows. Alternatively, sexual reproduction may allow for the "ratcheting" of evolutionary speed as one clade competes with another for a limited resource. |