Inbreeding Avoidance Project
Inbreeding can be costly. Therefore, animals are usually assumed to avoid mating with relatives. However, evolutionary theory suggests that animals should tolerate inbreeding much more often than is generally appreciated. This project aims to resolve this mismatch between empirical and theoretical expectations by determining if, when and how animals avoid inbreeding.
We are examining pre- and post-copulatory inbreeding avoidance mechanisms across closely related Poeciliid fishes.
We aim to:
i) evaluate potential trade-offs between pre- and post-copulatory inbreeding avoidance mechanisms,
ii) test for sex-specific inbreeding avoidance effects, and
iii) link inbreeding avoidance with inbreeding depression.
