Linked Life Data

17784925

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/17784925

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
19
pubmed:dateCreated
2007-9-26
pubmed:abstractText
The costs of inbreeding depression, as well as the opportunity costs of inbreeding avoidance, determine whether and which mechanisms of inbreeding avoidance evolve. In African elephants, sex-biased dispersal does not lead to the complete separation of male and female relatives, and so individuals may experience selection to recognize kin and avoid inbreeding. However, because estrous females are rare and male-male competition for mates is intense, the opportunity costs of inbreeding avoidance may be high, particularly for males. Here we combine 28 years of behavioural and demographic data on wild elephants with genotypes from 545 adult females, adult males, and calves in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, to test the hypothesis that elephants engage in sexual behaviour and reproduction with relatives less often than expected by chance. We found support for this hypothesis: males engaged in proportionally fewer sexual behaviours and sired proportionally fewer offspring with females that were natal family members or close genetic relatives (both maternal and paternal) than they did with nonkin. We discuss the relevance of these results for understanding the evolution of inbreeding avoidance and for elephant conservation.
pubmed:commentsCorrections
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Oct
pubmed:issn
0962-1083
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
16
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
4138-48
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2007
pubmed:articleTitle
Behavioural inbreeding avoidance in wild African elephants.
pubmed:affiliation
Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, NZP/NMNH, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20008, USA. archiee@si.edu
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S., Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't