Fission, budding, spores or fragmentation?
Watch twelve organisms, from amoeba and yeast to bread mould and planaria, make new ones from a single parent, and sort them by how they do it.
Core concept
In asexual reproduction one parent makes offspring that are copies of itself: by fission, budding, spores, fragmentation or regeneration
Topic: How do organisms reproduce?
Many living things reproduce without a partner. The new organisms come from one parent and are almost exact copies of it. Single cell: The tiny building block that every living thing is made of. All key words such as amoeba simply split in two (binary fission), and some, like the malaria parasite, split into many at once (multiple fission). Yeast and hydra grow a small bud that breaks away (budding). Moulds, mushrooms and ferns release tiny spores that grow into new organisms. A filament of spirogyra breaks into pieces that each grow on (fragmentation), and a planarian cut into pieces grows a whole new body from each one (regeneration).
What you will learn
- Explain asexual reproduction.
- Name five ways of asexual reproduction with an example of each.
- Tell binary fission from multiple fission.
Before you start
- Know that living things are made of cells.
Materials
- A slice of moist bread kept in a closed box for a few days, and a little yeast with sugar water
Equipment
- A microscope or a magnifying glass
Procedure
- Pick a card and watch it reproduce.
- Do this for at least six organisms.
- Sort every organism by how it reproduces.