mating system evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/population ecology...•selective breeding...

55
Mating System Evolution Inbreeding and Outbreeding Lecture 8: Spring 2013

Upload: others

Post on 12-Jul-2020

5 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Mating System Evolution

Inbreeding and Outbreeding

Lecture 8: Spring 2013

Page 2: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Mating system = who you mate with

• Outcrossing rate = t

• Ranges from 0 to 1.0 where 0 is total

obligate selfing and 1.0 is obligate

outcrossing.

Page 3: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Mating system & breeding system of

plants & animals

Animals:

Mobility

Most dioecious, but some hermaphroditic (still require

mate), fission, and parthenogenetic

Plants:

Lack mobility

Many hermaphroditic

selfing -----> outcrossing -----> dioecy

Breeding system = Attributes of the flowers within an individual that may influence gamete transfer among conspecifics

Page 4: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Evolution of Mating Systems

Breeding System Variation in Plants

Selfing -------------------- Outcrossing

Page 5: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Inbreeding depression = relative performance of progeny

resulting from matings between relatives versus

between two unrelated individuals

Fitness = the quantity and quality of progeny produced

by an individual.

Selfing or self mating = a decline in heterozygosity by 50%

each generation selfing occurs.

The most extreme form of inbreeding.

Terminology

Outcrossing or outcrossed mating= mating between

unrelated individuals

Page 6: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Issues in Conservation and Restoration Biology

Anthropogenic:

• Land development

• Over exploitation

• Species Translocations

• Pollution

Ecological:

• Environmental fluctuations

• Environmental catastrophes

• Fragmentation

• Meta-population dynamics

• Allele and edge effects

• Small effective number (Ne) (Lande 1997)

Page 7: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Issues in Conservation and Restoration Biology

Genetic:

• Maladaptive hybrids

• Selective breeding and harvesting

• Small population size

• Decreased genetic variation

• Inbreeding depression

• Fixation of new mutations

(Lande 1997)

Page 8: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Mating System Variation:

Animals and Plants

0.4

0.1

0.3

0

0.2

0-0.2 >0.2-0.4 >0.4-0.6 >0.6-0.8 >0.8-1

Selfing ------- Mixed-mating------ Outcrossing

Animal Plant

(Redrawn from Jarne & Auld 2006)

Pro

po

rtio

n o

f S

pecie

s

8

Page 9: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Evolution of Mating Systems

Ecological Advantages to Selfing:

Reproductive Assurance Hypothesis (Darwin 1876)

Genetic Advantage of Selfing:

50% Genetic Transmission Advantage (Fisher 1941)

Genetic Disadvantage of Selfing

Inbreeding Depression (Darwin 1876)

https://encryptedtbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQWSQ

cStDSNqC_0mtCOJRbFzORyjoT9SzauCNSR2fSdN9UFR_1k

9

Page 10: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Evolution of Mating Systems

Ecological Advantages to Selfing:

Pollination/reproductive assurance (Darwin 1876)

If pollinators become rare

Survival at low population densities

Promotion of local adaptation

Lower costs of reproduction

Colonizing ability: long distance colonization (Baker 1955)

Page 11: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Evolution of selfing:

• Selfing poplns thought to be evolved from outcrossing

poplns

• Selfing has evolved repeatedly in plant kingdom

• Darwin’s early observation in 1876

“Nature abhors self-fertilization”

• A lot of theory but not a lot of empirical data on many of the

hypotheses for the evolution of selfing

Page 12: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Reproductive Assurance

(1) Reproductive assurance (RA)

– 1st proposed by Darwin 1876

– Initially viewed as a rare event, favored by natural

selection under special environmental conditions

Page 13: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

RA Hypotheses

(2) Lack of pollinators

– Darlington 1939 – autogamy arises under environmental

conditions occur that prevent effective pollination by

normal vectors

– Hagerup 1951 – suggested that extra moisture in Northern

oceanic climates limit good weather days for flying by

insects

– Barrett 1980s – tristyly found in continental Brazil but a

selfing morph found on Jamiaca at edge of range of

Eicchornia paniculata

Page 14: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

RA Hypotheses

(3) Long distance colonization (Baker’s rule 1955)

– Single propagule following long distance dispersal will

succeed only if individual is autogamous thus allowing a

new population to establish

– Autogamy is a characteristic of a successful colonizing

species (Baker and Stebbins 1965; Stebbins 1970)

Page 15: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

RA Hypotheses

(4) Competition for limited # of pollinator vectors

among plant species

– Grant and Grant 1965

– May be more intense for SI species (Levin 1972)

– May expect a divergence in flowering phenology

between two competing species for pollinator

visits

Page 16: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

RA Hypotheses

(5) Local adaptation

– Selection for autogamy arises when environmental

conditions allow only a narrow range of genotypes

to survive or reproduce (i.e., following a

bottleneck) Mather 1953;1973

– The gain in immediate fitness via an increase in

local adaptation might overcompensate for the

decrease in long-term fitness through a loss of

genetic flexibility (Jain 1976)

Page 17: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Reproductive Assurance or

enhancement of gamete transmission?

(Lloyd 1979)

• Prior selfing - ~ to complete selfing

• Competing selfing –

– self and outcross pollen compete for the same ovules

– Pollen equally effective

• Delayed selfing – increase opportunity for

outcrossing first, then selfing allowed if all ovules

not fertilized

Page 18: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

RA Hypotheses

(6) Restrict gene flow

– Autogamy arises as a mechanism to restrict gene flow

between closely related sympatric species

– Restricted gene flow allows for population differentiation at

a local level between adjacent populations. (Antonovics,

J. 1968. Evolution in closely adjacent plant populations. V. Evolution

of self-fertility. Heredity 23: 219-238. )

– Genetic neighborhood small (Fenster 1991 a, b; Evolution)

Page 19: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

RA Hypotheses

(6) Restrict gene flow (cont.)

– Levin 1975

• Argued that selection for autogamy occurs whenever

two taxa produce sterile hybrids and share

pollinators in a mixed population

• Reproductive isolating mechanisms – prezygotic and

post zygotic

• Cleistogamous flowers reduce gene flow since often

produced underground (violets, touch me nots)

Page 20: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

RA Hypothesis

(7) Selection might be favored on the basis of rapid

fixation of favorable recessive alleles (Haldane 1932)

(8) Enhance survival at low population densities

(9) Lower cost of reproduction – shunt resources for larger

flowers to other traits that might improve survival.

How many of these hypotheses can apply to animal systems?

Page 21: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Selfing Mimulus micranthus

Mixed-mating Mimulus guttatus

However, a recent review has noted that many plant species

with specialize pollination systems also exhibit RA, since

there is often more variation in pollinator service

Page 22: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Fenster & Marten-Rodriguez 2007 (former BEES student) Int. J. Plant Sci. 168: 215-228.

Reproductive assurance of specialized flowers:

delayed selfing

Page 23: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

RA Hypotheses

(10) Automatic selection hypothesis

– Fisher 1941

– Gene for autogamy spreads throughout an

outcrossing population w/o significant inbreeding

depression (>50%) and no pollen discounting.

Page 24: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Gene Contribution to the Next Generation

Automatic selection hypothesis (Fisher 1941)

50% transmission advantage of selfing

Genetic Advantage to selfing

Outcross Self

Maternal seed 0.5 1.0

Sired seed 0.5 0.5

Total 1.0 1.5

Page 25: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Why aren’t all populations

selfing or inbreeding?

Page 26: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Gene Contribution to the Next Generation

• Cost of Outcrossing: Only contributing ½ of your

genes in both your pollen and ovules compared to

another individual who can also self and have 1.5

advantage.

Outcross Self

Maternal seed 0.5 1.0

Sired seed 0.5 0.5

Total 1.0 1.5

Page 27: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Thus:

• If only only outcross, one contributes 50% of

genes in both their pollen and ovules compared

to another individual who can both self and

outcross, having a 1.5 advantage.

• If Inbreeding depression > 50% then

outcrossing maintained

• If inbreeding depression < 50% then selfing

may evolve

Page 28: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Issues with respect to expression of

inbreeding depression

• Population level

• Individual level

• Species level

• Role of environment on detection of inbreeding

depression?

• Abiotic and biotic factors?

Page 29: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

• Genetic basis of inbreeding depression?

Partial Dominance (Dominance) vs. Overdominance

AA Aa aa vs. AA Aa aa

• Mating system?

Outcrossing Species vs. Selfing Species

M. guttatus M. micranthus

What factors determine whether a population

can purge its genetic load?

29

Page 30: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Evolution of Mating Systems

Genetic Basis

• Dominance

• Overdominance

Purging of Genetic Load

• Selfer >> Outcrosser

• Selfer = Outcrosser

The relationship between mating system

and the genetics of inbreeding depression

Carr, D.E., and M.R. Dudash. 2003. Recent approaches into the genetic basis of inbreeding

depression in plants. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B. 358:

1071-1084.

Page 31: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Can one purge the genetic

load from a population?

Page 32: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

M. guttatus

-Dudash/Carr

– Dudash/Murren

Page 33: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Glasshouse Inbreeding Depression

Studies: Tests of Purging

1) Comparison of inbreeding depression in selfing M.

micranthus and mixed-mating M. guttatus.

2) Consequences of 5 generations of serial inbreeding

in M. guttatus across the entire lifespan.

3) Quantifying the level of dominance responsible for

the expression of inbreeding depression in M.

guttatus and M. micranthus.

Page 34: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

M. guttatus M. micranthus

Self Outcross

Bio

mass

*

*

Carr and Dudash (AJB 1996)

1st Approach:

Page 35: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

M. guttatus M. micranthus

Self

Outcross*

Carr and Dudash (AJB 1996)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

M. guttatus M. micranthus

Self

Outcross

Page 36: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Relative

Performance

In Flower Production

Dudash et al. Evolution 1997

2nd Approach:

Page 37: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

(Dudash & Carr Nature1998)

Genetic basis of inbreeding depression:

Can genetic load be purged?

M. guttatus M. micranthus

37

3rd Approach:

Page 38: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

• Genetic basis of inbreeding depression?

Partial Dominance (Dominance) : AA Aa aa

• Mating system?

Selfing Species has Lower Inbreeding Depression

than Outcrossing Species

M. guttatus M. micranthus

What factors determine whether a population

can purge its genetic load?

38 (Carr & Dudash 1996 AJB, Carr & Dudash 1997 Evolution, Dudash et al.1997 Evolution, Carr et al. 1997 Evolution,

Dudash & Carr Nature1998)

Page 39: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Factors that influence ability to purge

• Genetic basis of inbreeding depression (dominance vs.

overdominance)

• Natural selection reduces frequency of deleterious alleles

• Effects of prior inbreeding in reducing effects of new

inbreeding

• Impact of new mutations

• Role of environment in expression of inbreeding depression

Page 40: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Mating System Variation: Animals and Plants

0.4

0.1

0.3

0

0.2

0-0.2 >0.2-0.4 >0.4-0.6 >0.6-0.8 >0.8-1

Animal Plant

(Lande & Schemske 1985, Redrawn from Jarne & Auld 2006)

Pro

po

rtio

n o

f S

pecie

s Why mixed mating?

Selfing ------- Mixed-mating------ Outcrossing 40

Page 41: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

How can mixed-mating strategies

be maintained in nature?

• Balance of immediate & long-term fitness (Mather 1943)

• Ecological conditions (Stebbins 1950)

• Loss of local adaptation in a novel habitat (Ronce et al. 2009)

• Environment dependent inbreeding depression (Dudash

1990, Goodwillie et al 2005, Jarne & Auld 2006, Cheptou & Donohue 2011, Winn et al. 2011)

41

Page 42: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Goodwillie et al. 2005 ARES

Plants

Page 43: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Selfing and subsequent inbreeding

depression in Animals

~ 1/3 of all animals capable of some form of selfing ~

hermaphrodites

Inbreeding avoidance mechanisms?

Prezygotic -

Postzygotic -

Page 44: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Animals with Hermaphroditic phyla (Jarne & Auld 2006)

• Molluscs

• Trematodes

• Cnidarians

Hydras, anemones ,jelly fish, corals

Page 45: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

THE INBREEDING COEFFICIENT (F) The inbreeding coefficient of an individual refers to how closely related its parents are.

When parents are unrelated, offspring F = 0, for completely inbred individuals F = 1.

Levels of inbreeding in offspring for different kinds of relationships among parents are:

______________________________________________________________

Parents Offspring F

______________________________________________________________

Unrelated 0

Brother-sister, mother-son, or father-daughter 0.25

Half brother-half-sister (half sibs) 0.125

First-cousins 0.0625

Second- cousins 0.0156

Self-fertilization (or selfing) ~ Plants 0.5

______________________________________________________________

Page 46: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Table Inbreeding depression for different components of fitness in wild

species of animals with a 25% increase in inbreeding coefficient. Inbreeding

depression is % reduction of inbred compared to outbred individuals.

Species Character Inbreeding depression %

Deer mice

Litter size 15

Survival to weaning 8

House mice (wild)

Litter size 10

Body wt at 53 days -10

Nesting behaviour 10

Japanese quail

Reproduction and survival 64

Fertility 21

Survival 0-5 wks 10

Body weight 4

Chukar partridges

Reproduction and survival 58

Egg production 16

Body weight 1

Rainbow trout

Hatchability -10, 9, 14

Fry survival 8, 11

Wt at 150 days 12

Zebra fish

Hatchability 89

Survival to 30 days 43

Length at 30 days 11

Channel catfish

Hatchability -11

Body weight at 4 wks 43

Body weight at 12 wks 7

Page 47: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Sabatia angularis (Gentianaceae)

Male fn

Herkogamy and Dichogamy

Female fn

Page 48: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

1.6

1.8

2

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

Greenhouse Garden Field

Environment

Fit

ne

ss

of

ou

tcro

ss

/se

lfInbreeding depression measured in three environments

in Sabatia angularis (Gentianaceae)

Dudash (Evolution 1990) The environment matters!

Page 49: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Outbreeding depression

Definition:

offspring from crosses between individuals from

different populations have lower fitness than

progeny from crosses between individuals from

the same population

Opposite of inbreeding depression

Optimal outcrossing distance – Price & Waser

1979

Page 50: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Outbreeding depression

3 Mechanisms proposed to generate outbreeding depression:

1) Chromosomal differences

Post zygotic vs. prezygotic isolating mechanisms

2) Adaptive differentiation among populations

3) Population bottlenecks and genetic drift

Page 51: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Investigations of inbreeding vs.

outbreeding depression

Inbreeding depression: 4,204 publications

Outbreeding depression: 731 publications

Why are we interested in the expression of outbreeding depression?

March 7, 2012 ISI web of science search

Page 52: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Genetic Rescue – outcrossing to

reduce effects from inbreeding

• Increases genetic diversity

• Observed subsequent fitness increases of small

isolated inbred populations

Fear of outbreeding depression is preventing

genetic management of fragmented populations

(Frankham et al. 2011)

Page 53: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Genetic rescue from crosses between different poplns:

Mammals

African elephant, lion and wild dog

Black rhinoceros

Bighorn sheep

Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit

Florida panther

Golden lion tamarin

Mexican wolf

Birds

Greater prairie chicken in Illinois

Red-cockaded woodpecker

Reptile

Swedish adder

Plants

Button wrinklewort

Lakeside daisy population in Illinois

Marsh grass of Parnassus

Mauna Kea silversword (Hawaii)

Brown’s banksia

Round leafed honeysuckle

Page 54: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Why is genetic rescue so important?

• What factors are contributing to the

need for genetic rescue?

• Are all local populations (~demes) of a

species similar?

• Examples from our readings?

Page 55: Mating System Evolutionscience.umd.edu/biology/dudashlab/Population Ecology...•Selective breeding and harvesting •Small population size •Decreased genetic variation •Inbreeding

Highlights

• Variability in both plant and animal mating systems

• Evolution of selfing from outcrossing

• Reproductive assurance common in nature

• Transmission bias associated with self matings

• Inbreeding depression - major force preventing

evolution of selfing

• Purging of genetic load

• Inbreeding in nature and factors that influence

expression of inbreeding depression

• Many species can benefit from crossing between

populations with little fear of long term effects

of outbreeding depression