9. The Evolution of Sex

Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior (EEB 122)

There are several explanations for the evolution of sex and its continued prevalence. One is facilitating the spread of helpful mutations while hastening the removal of harmful ones. Another is expediting resistance against pathogens. Sex does have several costs compared to asex, such as only giving half your genome to offspring, having to find mates, and the risk of predation and STDs. Overall, the benefits outweigh the costs and sex has a firm hold on the majority of the recent branches of the tree of life.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction
08:54 - Chapter 2. The Traditional View on Sex’s Existence
13:38 - Chapter 3. The Costs of Sex
28:02 - Chapter 4. Recombination
38:25 - Chapter 5. Pathogens and Parasites
44:54 - Chapter 6. Modern Asexuality and Conclusion

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2009.