Thursday 12 April 2012
Mating Has Long-Term Benefits: Courtship Can Take Effort, but Now Scientists Know Why It Might Be Worth It
ScienceDaily (Apr. 9, 2012) — Courtship rituals can demand time and effort, but now scientists have discovered why it might be worth it.
Attracting a mate -- which can take significant effort, such as in a peacock's show of feathers or the exhaustive rutting of stags -- can produce benefits for a species in the long term, a study suggests.
Edinburgh scientists have shown that animals and plants which reproduce sexually are at a considerable advantage to those species -- such as some insects and reptiles -- that reproduce without a partner.
Shuffling DNA
Researchers studied sexual reproduction in tiny fruit flies to learn more about how DNA is randomly shuffled when the genes of two parents combine to create a new individual.
They found that this recombination of genetic material allows for damaging elements of DNA -- which might cause disease or other potential drawbacks -- to be weeded out within a few generations.
Read on: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120409133912.htm
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