Having Babies in Soil: Is Sex Really Necessary?

Abstract

Finding a partner and having sex to produce babies is a common way to reproduce. Yet, upon closer look, we see that nature provides many ways for reproduction. What about a world without males? What first sounds impossible is the reality for many organisms that reproduce asexually, meaning without having sex. Females produce daughters that are clones of themselves, so no partner is required and males are dispensable. An Example of such all-female societies are several species of oribatid mites, which live in soils. These mites were already on earth long before the dinosaurs. Have oribatid mites always been asexual? Why do they reproduce without males? Does asexual reproduction have any advantages? Keep reading to learn about asexual reproduction and why oribatid mites are a key organism to investigate the question, “Why sex?”.