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Phenotype matching and inbreeding avoidance in African elephants
Author(s) -
MOORE JIM
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2007.03560.x
Subject(s) - inbreeding avoidance , inbreeding depression , biological dispersal , kin recognition , inbreeding , biology , mating , philopatry , ecology , inclusive fitness , kin selection , evolutionary biology , mate choice , demography , population , sociology
Perhaps the most important ‘decision’ made by any animal (or plant) is whether to disperse — leave kith and kin, or remain with the familiar and related. The benefits of staying at home are obvious, so dispersal requires an explanation — and the most popular is that dispersal functions to avoid inbreeding depression. Strong support comes from the observation that dispersal is so often sex biased. Simply put, all else being equal members of both sexes should prefer to remain philopatric, but this would lead to inbreeding depression so members of one sex have to disperse. In principle, this link between inbreeding depression and sex‐biased dispersal could be broken if individuals recognize close kin and avoid mating with them. Archie et al . (2007) provide one of the most compelling analyses to date of the interaction among inbreeding avoidance, kin recognition and mating strategies in any mammal, clearly showing that elephants recognize even close paternal kin and avoid mating with them. Their important results illuminate the subtleties of elephant inbreeding avoidance as well as illustrate the difficulty of arriving at definitive answers to questions about the evolution of dispersal behaviour.