AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY OF INBREEDING DEPRESSION IN A NATURAL HABITAT

Inbreeding is known to lead to decreased survival and reproduction in captive populations of animals. It is also important to know whether i nbreeding has deleterious effects in natural habitats. An estimate was made of the effects of inbreeding in white-footed mice, Peromyscus le ucopus noveboracensis, derived from a wild population. This study demo nstrates that inbreeding had a significant detrimental effect on the s urvivorship of mice reintroduced into a natural habitat. This effect w as more severe than the effect observed in laboratory studies of the p opulation.