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Does inbreeding distort sex-ratios?

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Abstract

Inbreeding is reputed to distort sex-ratios by reducing the proportion of the homogametic sex. However, many data sets do not show such an effect, and there is a known selective publication bias. To resolve the issue, we (a) developed detailed theoretical expectations for the effects of inbreeding on sex-ratios for autosomal and sex-linked loci with sex-limited effects or with equal effects in the two sexes, (b) evaluated the effects of inbreeding on sex-ratios in a new sample of 25 vertebrate taxa, and (c) evaluated the effects of inbreeding on sex-ratios for 69 replicate populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Theoretical analyses indicated that directional distortions of sex-ratios under inbreeding due to sex-linked loci with sex-limited expression are expected to be small and uncommon and that there will be no distortions in marsupials. Further, sex linked alleles expressed equally in both sexes may also distort sex-ratios following inbreeding. Autosomal sex-limited alleles should not result in directional sex-ratio distortions in large populations or across many replicates, but may lead to distortions of random direction in some small populations. There were no significant directional distortions of sex-ratio due to inbreeding in either the vertebrates or the Drosophila populations. However, there were significant random distortions of sex-ratios in both data sets, presumably from autosomal sex-limited alleles that had drifted in individual populations. Thus, directional distortions in sex-ratio are not a consistent signal of inbreeding depression.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Kelly Lees for technical assistance, the Australian Research Council and Macquarie University for research grants and M. Eldridge, P. Johnston, J. O’Grady and 2 anonymous referees for comments on the manuscript. This is publication number 393 of the Key Centre for Biodiversity and Bioresources, Macquarie University.

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  1. Jonathan Wilcken

    Present address: ARAZPA, 20, Mosman, NSW, 2088, USA

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  1. Key Centre for Biodiversity and Bioresources, Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Richard Frankham & Jonathan Wilcken

  2. Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia

    Richard Frankham

  3. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA

    Richard Frankham

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  1. Richard Frankham
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Correspondence to Richard Frankham.

Appendix

Appendix

 

Appendix Derivations of effects of inbreeding on sex-ratios (males/females) for autosomal loci and for sex-linked loci exhibiting different mechanisms of dosage compensation. Effects are shown for sex-limited loci and for loci expressed equally in both sexes
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Frankham, R., Wilcken, J. Does inbreeding distort sex-ratios?. Conserv Genet 7, 879–893 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-006-9129-6

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