The Natural History of Inbreeding and Outbreeding: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. British Ecological Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Animal Ecology. This content downloaded from 176.61.136.2 on Thu, 1 May 2014 07:15:26 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditionschapters end with a list of future projects and plea for and marked variations in population sizes between further work on the subject. localities, they present a good model for exploring I believe that this book will not only be a valuable many central ideas in ecology, including the regulating tool to today's biologists, but also help to inspire forces of the environment that determine numbers, future tropical biologists and convince them that it is the dynamic structure of populations, movements not only possible but crucial to be a tropical biologist between populations, and the behaviours determining if we are ever to understand how these habitats work.the spacing apart of individuals. Although hedgehogs I was lucky enough to spend 3 years working at La could provide empirical evidence relevant to many of Selva; in an ideal world all biologists should spend the recent theoretical developments in the study of some time working in a tropical rain forest. A second population persistence, conceptual issues such as these best would be to read this book.have been left largely untouched in the considerable JANE MEMMOTT body of knowledge now available on their general biology. Our current understanding of all aspects of the E.G.K. Melville (1994) natural history of hedgehogs is described com-Plague of Sheep. Environmental Consequences prehensively in Reeve's book, which is to my knowlof the Conquest of Mexico. edge the only thorough compilation of the literature Pp. xiii + 203. Cambridge University Press. ?35.00 on hedgehog biology. This is a lucid and expert (hardback). ISBN 0-521-42061. account, with numerous high-quality figures and plates, which should serve as well for the research Sheep are mightier than the sword is the contention biologist studying hedgehogs and wanting to read of this excellent book, a book with a richness that I around the subject, as for the natural historian. Some cannot do justice to in this short notice. It explores historical references to hedgehogs and hedgehog folkthe interaction of the Mexican environment, including lore make entertaining reading (find out how to stuff its inhabitants, with the invading Spanish and the and bake a hedgehog!), but the bulk of the book is animals, plants and diseases they brought with them, concerned with painting a more objective portrait for showing how the growth of Spanish control was a the general reader. Detailed information on all the consequence of this ecological invasio...

A retrospective study on semen quality parameters from four different Dutch horse breeds with different levels of inbreeding

“…The selective breeding of animals has led to new breeds of domestic animals, genetically suited to specific desirable tasks or traits. In domestic animals, inbreeding often results in a trade-off where a desirable trait is heightened or fixed but at the risk of inadvertently selecting undesirable traits or reducing overall fitness [1].…”

Is now the time? Review of genetic rescue as a conservation tool for brook trout

“…While many managers are familiar with the concept of genetic rescue, uncertainties about the relative risks and probability of success have limited its consideration in conservation planning. Early literature warned of the potential negative consequences of mixing formerly isolated populations, most notably the reduction in offspring vigor from outbreeding depression (Templeton, 1986; Thornhill, 1993). While outbreeding depression has been documented in some scenarios (e.g., Côte et al, 2014; Goldberg et al, 2005; Huff et al, 2011), more recent meta‐analyses suggest the threat can be minimal and negative outcomes are often predictable.…”

“…While many managers are familiar with the concept of genetic rescue, uncertainties about the relative risks and probability of success have limited its consideration in conservation planning. Early literature warned of the potential negative consequences of mixing formerly isolated populations, most notably the reduction in offspring vigor from outbreeding depression (Templeton, 1986;Thornhill, 1993).…”

Influence of autozygosity on common disease risk across the phenotypic spectrum

“…Thus, the environmental and social factors that correlate with having related parents may produce spurious associations between autozygosity and disease phenotypes. However, experimental studies in nonhuman organisms that are free of social and environmental confounding show effects of autozygosity on several phenotypes 15,[21][22][23][24][25] , suggesting that the observations in humans may be at least partially of genetic origin.Here, we describe the patterns of consanguinity and examine the effect of autozygosity on disease risk across the phenotypic spectrum in two cohorts: the Genes & Health cohort, a population-based study of self-reported British Bangladeshi and British Pakistani individuals, and in UK Biobank individuals genetically inferred to have European and South Asian ancestries. We show that subsetting association analyses to highly consanguineous individuals better controls for social and environmental confounding.…”

“…Thus, the environmental and social factors that correlate with having related parents may produce spurious associations between autozygosity and disease phenotypes. However, experimental studies in nonhuman organisms that are free of social and environmental confounding show effects of autozygosity on several phenotypes 15,[21][22][23][24][25] , suggesting that the observations in humans may be at least partially of genetic origin.…”