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inbreeding depression

American  
[in-bree-ding-di-presh-uhn] / ˈɪnˌbri dɪŋ dɪˌprɛʃ ən /

noun

  1. Biology. the tendency of a population to become progressively less fit as a result of inbreeding.


inbreeding depression Scientific  
  1. The loss of vigor and general health that sometimes characterizes organisms that are the product of inbreeding.

  2. Compare hybrid vigor


Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

But these are likely underestimates of the effects of inbreeding because researchers didn’t collect data from the orcas’ earliest life stages, when inbreeding depression is often the strongest.

From Seattle Times Mar. 20, 2023

However, if a family of carriers begins to interbreed with each other, this will dramatically increase the likelihood of two carriers mating and eventually producing diseased offspring, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression.

From Textbooks Jun. 9, 2022

Loss of wild species would result in inbreeding depression, as crop varieties must be bred with wild species to remain viable.

From Textbooks Jun. 9, 2022

Our results suggest that a model of genome-wide cumulative effects of many small recessive alleles affecting overall fitness and survival best explains the architecture of inbreeding depression in Eucalyptus.

From Nature Jun. 10, 2014

Improved assembly algorithms, increased read lengths, and de novo sequences of additional haplotypes will reveal the full catalogue of genes critical to inbreeding depression.

From Nature Jul. 13, 2011

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