Biological life cycle

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In biology, a life cycle (or biological life cycle when the context is not clear) is a series of stages of the life of an organism. It begins as a zygote, often in an egg, and concludes as an adult that reproduces, producing an offspring in the form of a new zygote. The same series of stages occurs in the new biological generation, the process repeating in a cyclic fashion. "The concept is closely related to those of the life history, development and ontogeny, but differs from them in stressing renewal." Transitions of form may involve growth, asexual reproduction, or sexual reproduction. In some organisms, different "generations" of the species succeed each other during the life cycle. For plants and many algae, there are two multicellular stages, and the life cycle is referred to as alternation of generations. The term life history is often used, particularly for organisms such as the red algae which have three multicellular stages (or more), rather than two. Life cycles that include...

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