Abstract
Commonly recognized effects of sexual reproduction include increased diversity, improved adaptability, enabling of DNA repair, constrained accumulation of deleterious mutations, and species genotype homogenization. Additionally, there are studies that show how sexual reproduction slows down certain evolutionary responses, offering advantages in population cumulative growth and stability over time and other metrics. Here, we contribute an observation of another distinct effect of sexual reproduction, focusing on retaining a species's key traits. In an initial mathematical analysis and simulation, we show that in an environment where copying is prone to error, quantitative polygenic traits that are shared within a parents' generation are transmitted to future generations under sexual reproduction with less deviation than under asexual reproduction. Furthermore, the model shows that this retention of common traits (abbr. RoCT), is driven by the very nature of mixing of parental traits, and occurs even before adding effects like trait-specific reproductive advantages, DNA repair, or the raising of reproductive barriers. Since survival of ecosystems depends on the ability of individuals to replace the networked interactions and interdependencies associated with failing, dying, or absent members of the same species, RoCT helps sustain species and ecosystems.