Asexual reproduction: All the organisms start their life from a single cell. If this cell is given by only one parent, it is called asexual reproduction.
The main methods of asexual reproduction are as follows:
(1) Budding: In this method, an outgrowth | called bud is formed on the body of the animal. It grows in size and separates from the parent body and develops into a new animal.
Example: Hydra, Vorticella.
(2) Binary fission: In this method, the parent animal gets divided into two similar animals. It is a complex process of mitotic division.
Example: Amoeba, Euglena, Paramecium.
(3) Multiple fission: In this type of fission, first the nucleus divides the number of times to form many daughter nuclei. After this division, in cytoplasm cytoplasts collect around all the daughter nucleus. In this way, many individuals are produced. This type of reproduction takes place under unfavourable conditions and a thick cyst is formed. On the return of favourable conditions, the cyst breaks and the young organism come outside, e.g. Amoeba.
(d) Schizogony: In this method, the parent nucleus divides to give rise to many daughter nuclei. The cytoplasm also divides and many nucleated cytoplasmic units are formed, which develop into a new organism, e.g., Plasmodium.