Why don't all animals avoid inbreeding?
(2021) In Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 288(1956).- Abstract
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... (More)
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.
(Less)
- author
- Pike, Victoria L. ; Cornwallis, Charlie K. LU and Griffin, Ashleigh S.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-08-11
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- inbreeding avoidance, inbreeding depression, random mating
- in
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- volume
- 288
- issue
- 1956
- article number
- 20211045
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:34344184
- scopus:85113304686
- ISSN
- 0962-8452
- DOI
- 10.1098/rspb.2021.1045
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 247d980f-d535-44da-95e0-4061e9a6a229
- date added to LUP
- 2022-03-02 15:57:32
- date last changed
- 2024-07-26 15:50:01
@article{247d980f-d535-44da-95e0-4061e9a6a229,
abstract = {{<p>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. </p>}},
author = {{Pike, Victoria L. and Cornwallis, Charlie K. and Griffin, Ashleigh S.}},
issn = {{0962-8452}},
keywords = {{inbreeding avoidance; inbreeding depression; random mating}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{08}},
number = {{1956}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
title = {{Why don't all animals avoid inbreeding?}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1045}},
doi = {{10.1098/rspb.2021.1045}},
volume = {{288}},
year = {{2021}},
}