What are the advantages and disadvantages of asexual and sexual reproduction?

Asexual reproduction is faster and more energetically efficient than sexual reproduction, because the organism must use energy to produce gametes and find a mate in sexual reproduction. Genetic diversity is reduced in asexual reproduction, because all offspring are genetically identical to the parent. Sexual reproduction, however, results in genetic variability in the population, which increases the chances that some of the offspring will survive in that particular environment or if that environment later changes. Sexual reproduction is also thought to provide a better mechanism for spreading beneficial mutations through the population and for more efficiently removing harmful mutations.