Why don’t all animals avoid inbreeding?
Individuals are expected to avoid mating with relatives as inbreeding can reduce offspring fitness, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. This has led to the widespread assumption that selection will favour individuals that avoid mating with relatives. However, the strength of inbreeding avoi...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2021
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| _version_ | 1797100405875802112 |
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| author | Pike, V Cornwallis, CK Griffin, A |
| author_facet | Pike, V Cornwallis, CK Griffin, A |
| author_sort | Pike, V |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Individuals are expected to avoid mating with relatives as inbreeding can reduce offspring fitness, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. This has led to the widespread assumption that selection will favour individuals that avoid mating with relatives. However, the strength of inbreeding avoidance is variable across species and there are numerous cases where related mates are not avoided. Here we test if the frequency that related males and females encounter each other explains variation in inbreeding avoidance using phylogenetic meta-analysis of 41 different species from six classes across the animal kingdom. In species reported to mate randomly with respect to relatedness, individuals were either unlikely to encounter relatives, or inbreeding had negligible effects on offspring fitness. Mechanisms for avoiding inbreeding, including active mate choice, post-copulatory processes and sex biased dispersal, were only found in species with inbreeding depression. These results help explain why some species seem to care more about inbreeding than others: inbreeding avoidance through mate choice only evolves when there is both a risk of inbreeding depression and related sexual partners frequently encounter each other. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T05:37:01Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:e4405ad0-8655-42d0-b16f-fc6241405468 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T05:37:01Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:e4405ad0-8655-42d0-b16f-fc62414054682022-03-27T10:15:15ZWhy don’t all animals avoid inbreeding?Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:e4405ad0-8655-42d0-b16f-fc6241405468EnglishSymplectic ElementsThe Royal Society2021Pike, VCornwallis, CKGriffin, AIndividuals are expected to avoid mating with relatives as inbreeding can reduce offspring fitness, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. This has led to the widespread assumption that selection will favour individuals that avoid mating with relatives. However, the strength of inbreeding avoidance is variable across species and there are numerous cases where related mates are not avoided. Here we test if the frequency that related males and females encounter each other explains variation in inbreeding avoidance using phylogenetic meta-analysis of 41 different species from six classes across the animal kingdom. In species reported to mate randomly with respect to relatedness, individuals were either unlikely to encounter relatives, or inbreeding had negligible effects on offspring fitness. Mechanisms for avoiding inbreeding, including active mate choice, post-copulatory processes and sex biased dispersal, were only found in species with inbreeding depression. These results help explain why some species seem to care more about inbreeding than others: inbreeding avoidance through mate choice only evolves when there is both a risk of inbreeding depression and related sexual partners frequently encounter each other. |
| spellingShingle | Pike, V Cornwallis, CK Griffin, A Why don’t all animals avoid inbreeding? |
| title | Why don’t all animals avoid inbreeding? |
| title_full | Why don’t all animals avoid inbreeding? |
| title_fullStr | Why don’t all animals avoid inbreeding? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Why don’t all animals avoid inbreeding? |
| title_short | Why don’t all animals avoid inbreeding? |
| title_sort | why don t all animals avoid inbreeding |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT pikev whydontallanimalsavoidinbreeding AT cornwallisck whydontallanimalsavoidinbreeding AT griffina whydontallanimalsavoidinbreeding |