The causes and magnitude of inbreeding depression are of considerable importance for a wide range of issues in evolutionary and conservation biology, but we have only a limited understanding of inbreeding depression in natural populations. Here, we present a study of inbreeding in a large wild population of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis). Inbreeding was rare, to the extent that we d...

Inbreeding depression is usually quantified by regressing individual phenotypic values on inbreeding coefficients, implicitly assuming there is no correlation between an individual's phenotype and the kinship coefficient to its mate. If such an association between parental phenotype and parental kinship exists, and if the trait of interest is heritable, estimates of inbreeding depression can be...

Genetic diversity in the U.S. Hereford population was characterized by examining the level and rate of inbreeding and effective population size. Pedigree records for 20,624,418 animals were obtained from the American Hereford Association, of which 96.1% had both parents identified. Inbreeding coefficients were computed and mean inbreeding (Fx) calculated by year from 1900 to 2001. Inbreeding in...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of maternal inbreeding on incidence of twinning,dystocia and stillbirth in Holstein cows of Iran. Calving records from March 2000 to April 2009 comprisingof 365,021 calvings on 153,802 cows from 86 dairy herds were used. The mean level of inbreeding was0.7%, less than 37% of all animals were inbred, and a small proportion (3.45%) of inbree...

The influence of inbreeding depression on phenotypic traits of the Lizard canary from an Italian breeder was evaluated. The following traits were studied: birds’ life span, number of surviving offspring, and morphological traits (type of plumage, spangles, feather quality, breast, cap, ground colour, wings and tail, eyelashes, covert feathers, beak, legs and feet, habits, and size). The effects...

Background: Interactions between inbreeding and maternal effects have received little attention, and the effect of maternal age on inbreeding depression in offspring has been almost entirely neglected. Maternal age affects allocation of resources and other materials to offspring, which can affect the fitness consequences of inbreeding. An interaction between inbreeding and maternal age thus has...

The widespread consensus among biologists is that, with a few exceptions, inbreeding leads to a loss of biological fitness. Animals in an inbred lineage are less likely to survive and less likely to reproduce than animals in more outbred lineages. This has been demonstrated many times in well-studied, naturally outbreeding species. Inbreeding can result in reduced fertility both in litter size ...