Final answer:
Both male and female gametes are haploid, each carrying one set of chromosomes. Male sperm can carry either an X or Y chromosome, while female eggs always contain an X chromosome. The fusion of these haploid gametes results in a diploid zygote, maintaining the species' chromosomal number.
Step-by-step explanation:
Nature of Male and Female Gametes
In sexual reproduction, both male and female gametes are of a haploid nature. This means that they each contain a single set of chromosomes. Male gametes, or sperm, can carry either an X or a Y chromosome, resulting in a 50% chance of producing a male (XY) or a female (XX) offspring after fertilization. Female gametes, also known as eggs, always contain an X chromosome. When a sperm (haploid) fertilizes an egg (haploid), the resulting zygote is diploid, containing two sets of chromosomes—one set from each parent.
Sperm are produced in males through a process called spermatogenesis, and eggs are produced in females through oogenesis. Both of these processes involve meiosis, which is the type of cell division that reduces the chromosome number by half, thus forming haploid cells from diploid ones. The gametes are crucial for maintaining the chromosomal integrity of a species, as they ensure that offspring have the same number of chromosomes as their parents.