Editing Reproduction (section)

==Lottery principle==
Sexual reproduction has many drawbacks, since it requires far more energy than asexual reproduction and diverts the organisms from other pursuits, and there is some argument about why so many species use it. [[George C. Williams (biologist)|George C. Williams]] used [[lottery]] tickets as an [[analogy]] in one explanation for the widespread use of sexual reproduction.<ref>[[George C. Williams (biologist)|Williams G. C.]] 1975. Sex and Evolution. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.</ref> He argued that asexual reproduction, which produces little or no genetic variety in offspring, was like buying many tickets that all have the same number, limiting the chance of "winning" – that is, producing surviving offspring. Sexual reproduction, he argued, was like purchasing fewer tickets but with a greater variety of numbers and therefore a greater chance of success. The point of this analogy is that since asexual reproduction does not produce genetic variations, there is little ability to quickly adapt to a changing environment. The lottery principle is less accepted these days because of evidence that asexual reproduction is more prevalent in unstable environments, the opposite of what it predicts.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lively |first1=C. M. |last2=Morran |first2=L. T. |title=The ecology of sexual reproduction |journal=Journal of Evolutionary Biology |date=July 2014 |volume=27 |issue=7 |pages=1292–1303 |doi=10.1111/jeb.12354 |pmid=24617324|pmc=4077903 }}</ref>