Summary
The great majority of animal and plant species reproduce sexually. Nevertheless, it has been shown that sexual reproduction is very costly and inefficient in comparison with asexual reproduction, or parthenogenesis, in which each offspring has only one parent. As a result, sexual reproduction is currently considered to be one of the grand mysteries of evolutionary biology. The many theories have been suggested to solve the “queen of problems in evolutionary biology". However, theories have been developed in isolation of empirical studies on existing asexual organisms. To a large extent this is due to the fact that empirical research on asexual organisms itself is organized into taxonomic groups and habitat types. This fragmentation has led to complex and inconsistent terminologies restricting the accessibility to non-specialists. The current initiative aims to bridge the gaps between empirical and theoretical research. The network brought together leading European empiricists and theoreticians in a series of four workshops. The initiative resulted in the production of a book providing a comprehensive review of the biology of asexual organisms plus a unified terminology and relevant theory.
For more information on PARTNER Network activities, Go to Website
Duration
Three years, from July 2002 to June 2005.
