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Related Concept Videos

Inclusive Fitness

Inclusive Fitness

Most altruistic behavior—in which one animal helps another at a cost to themselves—occurs between relatives. Scientists think these altruistic behaviors evolved because they increase the inclusive fitness of the animal providing help.

What is a Species?

What is a Species?

Frequency-dependent Selection

Frequency-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.

Mate Choice

Mate Choice

Mate choice—the decision about whom to mate with—is a type of natural selection, since animals must reproduce to pass down their genes. Mate choice is also called intersexual selection because the behavior occurs between the sexes.

Epistasis

Epistasis

In addition to multiple alleles at the same locus influencing traits, numerous genes or alleles at different locations may interact and influence phenotypes in a phenomenon called epistasis. For example, rabbit fur can be black or brown depending on whether the animal is homozygous dominant or heterozygous at a TYRP1 locus. However, if the rabbit is also homozygous recessive at a locus on the tyrosinase gene (TYR), it will have an unshaded coat that appears white, regardless of its TYRP1...

Conservation of Small Populations

Conservation 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...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 16, 2026

Measuring Active and Passive Tameness Separately in Mice

Measuring Active and Passive Tameness Separately in Mice

Published on: August 10, 2018

Inbreeding avoidance, tolerance, or preference in animals?

Marta Szulkin¹, Katie V Stopher, Josephine M Pemberton

¹Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175 Campus CNRS, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier cedex 5, France. marta.szulkin@zoo.ox.ac.uk

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

|November 28, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Animals may not always avoid inbreeding, challenging ecological assumptions. Understanding animal inbreeding strategies requires better theory and methods to quantify mating choices and relatedness.

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Last Updated: May 16, 2026

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Published on: March 25, 2022

Area of Science:

* Evolutionary biology
* Animal behavior
* Quantitative genetics

Background:

* Inbreeding depression is a known cost to offspring fitness.
* Traditional ecological models assume inbreeding avoidance is universal.
* Recent findings show varied animal mating strategies, including inbreeding preference.

Purpose of the Study:

* To evaluate current theoretical and empirical limitations in understanding animal inbreeding strategies.
* To identify necessary advances for predicting and quantifying inbreeding behaviors.
* To explain the complexities of inbreeding avoidance, tolerance, and preference.

Main Methods:

* Review of existing ecological theories on inbreeding.
* Analysis of empirical studies on animal mating patterns.
* Discussion of challenges in estimating genetic relatedness among mates.

Main Results:

* Current theory inadequately predicts whether animals avoid, tolerate, or prefer inbreeding.
* Empirical evidence shows inconsistent inbreeding avoidance across species.
* Accurate quantification of inbreeding strategies is hindered by methodological difficulties.

Conclusions:

* A more comprehensive theoretical framework is needed to explain diverse inbreeding strategies.
* Advances in estimating relatedness are crucial for empirical validation.
* Further research is required to fully understand the evolutionary significance of animal inbreeding strategies.