Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 6, 2026
06:22
Mass-Rearing and Molecular Studies in Tortricidae Pest Insects
Published on: March 25, 2022
Environment-dependent inbreeding depression: its ecological and evolutionary significance
Pierre-Olivier Cheptou1, Kathleen Donohue
1UMR 5175 CEFE - Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CNRS), 1919 Route de Mende, F-34293 Montpellier, Cedex 05, France. pierre-olivier.cheptou@cefe.cnrs.fr
The New Phytologist
|November 25, 2010
Summary
Inbreeding depression, the reduced survival and fertility of offspring from related parents, is influenced by environmental factors. Understanding this environment-dependent inbreeding depression is crucial for evolutionary and ecological studies.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Ecology
- Population genetics
Background:
- Inbreeding depression significantly impacts population dynamics and the evolution of traits that avoid inbreeding, such as mating systems and dispersal.
- Evidence increasingly shows that inbreeding depression is not constant but varies depending on the environment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To discuss the ecological and evolutionary consequences of environment-dependent inbreeding depression.
- To explore the mechanisms causing environment-dependent inbreeding depression.
- To highlight the implications for theoretical models and empirical research.
Main Methods:
- Literature review and theoretical discussion.
- Analysis of existing evidence on environment-dependent inbreeding depression.
- Synthesis of ecological and evolutionary consequences.
Main Results:
- Environment-dependent inbreeding depression can arise from environment-specific phenotypic expression, dominance, and natural selection.
- This phenomenon challenges traditional views of inbreeding depression as solely due to unconditionally harmful alleles.
- Loci causing inbreeding depression in one environment may aid adaptation in another, suggesting a role for balancing selection.
Conclusions:
- Environment-dependent inbreeding depression has significant, often overlooked, impacts on population demography, especially in marginal or colonizing populations.
- It can shift the adaptive balance for mating systems and dispersal traits.
- Integrating environmental dependence into models is essential for a comprehensive understanding of inbreeding depression's genetic and ecological underpinnings.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
02:16Genetics of Speciation
Speciation is the evolutionary process resulting in the formation of new, distinct species—groups of reproductively isolated populations.The genetics of speciation involves the different traits or isolating mechanisms preventing gene exchange, leading to reproductive isolation. Reproductive isolation can be due to reproductive barriers that have effects either before or after the formation of a zygote. Pre-zygotic mechanisms prevent fertilization from occurring, and post-zygotic mechanisms...
02:07Conservation of Declining Populations
Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.
02:27Background and Environment Affect Phenotype
Although the genetic makeup of an organism plays a major role in determining the phenotype, there are also several environmental factors, such as temperature, oxygen availability, presence of mutagens, that can alter an organism’s phenotype.
An example of how genetic background affects phenotype can be seen in horses. The Extension gene in horses is responsible for their coat color. A wild-type gene (EE) produces black pigment in the coat, while a mutant gene (ee) produces red pigment. A...
An example of how genetic background affects phenotype can be seen in horses. The Extension gene in horses is responsible for their coat color. A wild-type gene (EE) produces black pigment in the coat, while a mutant gene (ee) produces red pigment. A...
02:04Conservation of Small Populations
Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less likely to...
01:21Frequency-dependent Selection
When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.Positive Frequency-Dependent SelectionIn positive...
02:26Ecological Disturbance
An ecological disturbance is a temporary disruption in the environment resulting from abiotic, biotic, or anthropogenic factors, causing a pronounced change in an ecosystem. The impact of an ecological disturbance, which can depend on its intensity, frequency, and spatial distribution, plays a significant role in shaping the species diversity within the ecosystem.Ecological disturbances can be caused by an event as small as the trampling of underbrush to an incident as wide-ranging as a forest...