Sex-specific effects of inbreeding on reproductive senescence.

ABSTRACT: Inbreeding depression plays a significant role in evolutionary biology and ecology. However, we lack a clear understanding of the fitness consequences of inbreeding depression. Studies often focus on short-term effects of inbreeding in juvenile offspring, whereas inbreeding depression in adult traits and the interplay between inbreeding depression and age are rarely addressed. Inbreeding depression may increase with age and accelerate the decline in reproductive output in ageing individuals (reproductive senescence), which could be subject to sex-specific dynamics. We test this hypothesis with a longitudinal experimental study in a short-lived songbird. Adult inbred and outbred male and female canaries were paired in a 2 × 2 factorial design, and survival and annual reproductive performanc

SUBMITTER: de Boer RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5998105 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature