What happens if meiosis does not occur?
If sex cells were formed without meiosis, there would be a doubling of the number of chromosomes with each generation. For example, humans would have 96 chromosomes in one generation, 192 in the next generation and so on until it would be impossible for all the chromosomes to fit in a cell! There are documented species that have been created by the doubling of the chromosome number from one set (haploid to two sets, diploid) in liverworts. It should be pointed out that in organisms with one set of chromosomes, fusion of sex cells occurs doubling the chromosome number followed by meiosis which restores the offspring to just one set of chromosomes.
The number of chromosomes in a species would not remain constant if there were no meiosis.Meiosis is required for halving the number of chromosomes in the gametes. Constancy in the number of chromosomes is essential to maintain so many things, besides the gene pool. In some situations in plants, polyploidy is introduced by obviating meiosis.
