A threefold genetic allee effect: population size affects cross-compatibility, inbreeding depression and drift load in the self-incompatible Ranunculus reptans.

ABSTRACT: A decline in population size can lead to the loss of allelic variation, increased inbreeding, and the accumulation of genetic load through drift. We estimated the fitness consequences of these processes in offspring of controlled within-population crosses from 13 populations of the self-incompatible, clonal plant Ranunculus reptans. We used allozyme allelic richness as a proxy for long-term population size, which was positively correlated with current population size. Crosses between plants of smaller populations were less likely to be compatible. Inbreeding load, assessed as the slope of the relationship between offspring performance and parental kinship coefficients, was not related to population size, suggesting that deleterious mutations had not been purged from small populations. Offs

SUBMITTER: Willi Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1449582 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature