Is Sex Important?

Is Sex Important

             Sex is important because even though the bdelloid rotifer has reproduced by cloning and hasn't had sex in 85 years, not all eukaryotas can flourish with cloning. A book called Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice To All Creation by Olivia Judson talks about sex through a talk show she made up herself that includes animals from all over the world talking about how they reproduce. The bdelloid rotifer has managed to go without sex for a very long time and her species has survived, but many animals in the audience are skeptical and for a good reason. From a line in her book. "After a brief and glorious flowering, asexuals vanish."(Judson 216). No line of asexuals has ever been alive for this long because their DNA is the same with the exception of when the DNA mutates. Some organisms have claimed to produce asexually, but have been proven wrong. "Until now, all claims of ancient asexuality have rested on negative evidence-mainly that no one has ever seen a male of that species."(Judson 221). No solid evidence has ever been given. The reason that no asexual has ever survived is mainly because of three things as Judson stated in her book. "...popularly known as Muller's ratchet, Kondrashov's hatchet, and the Red Queen."(Judson 224). According to the ratchet and the hatchet, species die through harmful mutations and the Red Queen is disease. Although the bdelloid rotifer had managed to stay alive without sex for 85 million years, no other speices has survived. "But the show had made a crucial pint: although we don't have a definitive answer, it looks like we need sex to stay healthy... In short, sex enables us to survive."(Judson 231). 

             I found the way that the bdelloid rotifer travled through space and time. I'm not sure how something can do that or if she was speaking in a metaphor. I'd like to learn a little more about why the bdelloid rotifer survived if no other species had by reproducing asexually.