Sexual Reproduction

Sexual reproduction is a process of reproduction in which the female gamete, or ovum in animals, and male gamete, or spermatozoon in animals, fuse to form a zygote. This zygote then has the potential to develop into a genetically distinct offspring, with one half of its genetic material from the its mother and the other half from its father. Sexual reproduction typically involves processes, such as fertilization and meiosis.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/sex/advantage/index.html Meiosis is a process of cell division in which the number of chromosomes within the cell is reduced by half. In animal cells, this reduction of chromosomes results in the formation of gametes. Fertilization is the fusion of the male and female gamete to form a new organism.http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/S/Sexual_Reproduction.html

Meiosis is significant in that the process generates gametes that are haploid, and because of the genetic recombining, genetically different. This means that the zygote formed in fertilization will have the original number of chromosomes, but a genome that is different from both parents.http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/S/Sexual_Reproduction.html

Plants are made up of four parts: carpels, petals, sepals, and stamens, arranged on the peduncle, or stalk. The stamens are the male organs of the plant, while the carpels are female.http://library.thinkquest.org/28751/review/plants/6.html While in animals gametes are formed as a product of meiosis, spores are formed in plants. It is within these spores that mitosis occurs. Mitosis is a process by which a eukaryotic cell separates the chromosomes within its nucleus into two identical sets in two separate nuclei. The spores then germinate to the gametophyte phase. Depending on the specific plant, the gametophyte can vary in numbers.http://library.thinkquest.org/28751/review/plants/6.html