In natural populations, the expression and severity of inbreeding depression can vary widely across taxa. Describing processes that influence the extent of inbreeding and inbreeding depression aid in our understanding of the evolutionary history of mating systems such as cooperative breeding and nonrandom mate selection. Such findings also help shape wildlife conservation theory because inbreed...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Inbreeding depression is thought to play a central role in the evolution and maintenance of cross-fertilization. Theory indicates that inbreeding depression can be purged with self-fertilization, resulting in positive feedback for the selection of selfing. Variation among populations of Leptosiphon jepsonii in the timing and rate of self-fertilization provides an opportunity...

The objective of this research was to examine the effects of inbreeding in the population of Holstein cattle in the Walloon region of Belgium. The effects of inbreeding on the global economic index and its components were studied by using data from the genetic evaluations of February 2004 for production, somatic cell score (SCS), computed from somatic cell counts and type. Inbreeding coefficien...

Dystocia scores were recorded by producers on 120,434 Holsteins (218,213 records) from 1985 through 1996; dystocia scores 3 to 5 were coded as difficult births. Stillbirths were recorded for deaths within the first 48 h after birth. Data were restricted to registered cows for pedigree completeness, and inbreeding coefficients were calculated using 5-generation pedigrees. Computational restricti...

genetic values of independent lines with inbreeding have revealed large variability among lines (Bartual and HalThe average effects of inbreeding depression have been measured lauer, 1976; Cornelius and Dudley, 1974, 1976; Obilana extensively in maize (Zea mays L.), but the influence of inbreeding and Hallauer, 1974) and variability in inbreeding depreson genetic variance has not been well stud...

Inbreeding in hermaphroditic plants can occur through two different mechanisms: biparental inbreeding, when a plant mates with a related individual, or self-fertilization, when a plant mates with itself. To avoid inbreeding, many hermaphroditic plants have evolved self-incompatibility (SI) systems which prevent or limit self-fertilization. One particular SI system-homomorphic SI-can also reduce...

Changes in the Mean and Variance Under Inbreeding Inbreeding Inbreeding (mating of related individuals) often results in a change in the mean of a trait compared with its value in a random-mating population. Its importance is that inbreeding is generally harmful and reduces fitness. In particular, inbreeding often causes a reduction of the mean value for quantitative traits associated with repr...

CHANGES IN THE MEAN AND VARIANCE UNDER INBREEDING Inbreeding Inbreeding (mating of related individuals) often results in a change in the mean of a trait compared with its value in a random-mating population. Its importance is that inbreeding is generally harmful and reduces fitness. In particular, inbreeding often causes a reduction of the mean value for quantitative traits associated with repr...

Captive-breeding programs have been widely used in the conservation of imperiled species, but the effects of inbreeding, frequently expressed in traits related to fitness, are nearly unavoidable in small populations with few founders. Following its planned extirpation in the wild, the endangered red wolf (Canis rufus) was preserved in captivity with just 14 founders. In this study, we evaluated...

We propose a novel theory for the evolution of polyandry driven by genetic benefits to females whose offspring interbreed. In species with an ecology characterized by frequent colonization of new habitat patches, consanguineous matings may be common during the early stages of colonization, but genetic diversity may grow as new colonizers arrive. We show that with levels of inbreeding depression...