if an organism was very well adapted to its environment would it be a good idea to reproduce asexually?

Answer 1

one of the principles of evolution is the idea of mutation. An organism that reproduces assexually increases the possibility that if the environment changes, a positive mutation carrying to the next generation will not occur.

This is really a matter of mathematics. If a species is heterosexual in it's reproduction, you have two potential contributors to the Gene pool. By having one of the two attain a mutation, that mutation, which may be ineffective by itself, may combine with the alternative DNA to form a new mix capable of Adapting to a change.

With 10 sets of heterosexual parents, you have perhaps 1024 potential opportunities for an adaption. With 20 assexual parents, you have 20 potential adaption opportunities. After a few centuries, it becomes obvious which has more potential.

Being well adapted to an environment is, universally, a temporary thing. Planets change, weather changes, volcanoes come and go, ice ages, earthquakes, etc. Because "change" is the only constant, assexual reproduction is a disadvantage in the long run. In the short run, it wins hands down.

Answer 2

The key to looking at this question is to see the common animals that start out in the spring when "the living is easy" (like you said about being "well adapted")...lots of soft new greenery for aphids to eat or tons of new algae in the pond (water fleas to eat). In both cases, those little animals in the spring have abundant food, few predators (they haven't grown up yet or grown in #s like many organisms do, seasonally) and the aphids and water fleas are parthenogenic...that is they are rapidly cloning themselves asexually. The "all female happy-time" in the pond or on your roses. But.....all good things come to an end............

As the environment changes and predators begin the grow in number, and the plants begin to make more secondary compounds or woody tissue, or the pond algae start to include toxic forms.........both the aphids and water fleas (Daphnia is a common example) start to make males and switch to sexual reproduction. The resulting offspring are more genetically diverse or (in the case of Daphnia) produce seed-like eggs that can live through the period of upcoming drying or freezing pond. The aphids start flying around at this time too and disperse to better feeding areas.

When living is "not so easy"....it pays to have sexual reproduction. But why bother with males otherwise?

Answer 3

NO. It would lose its ability to become more diverse if it only had its own genes. If that perfect environment for it were to change it would be unable to evolve into something that could survive there.