Donnerstag, 17. November 2016

Patrick Bateson on “optimal outbreeding”

“Finding a compatible partner is an important part of mate choice. Members of different species do not make good mates. At the other pole, too much inbreeding can also reduce reproductive success. For many years it was supposed that, providing the two extremes were avoided, choice of mate was influenced by all the other factors that are known or assumed to be important … . However, even within the species excessive outbreeding may be costly for a variety of reasons (Bateson, 1980; Shields, 1983). This means that a balance between too much inbreeding and too much outbreeding may have to be struck more carefully than we previously supposed.”
























































Patrick Bateson (1983)

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