Summary
Data are presented on the frequency of close inbreeding and on inbreeding depression in a Great Tit population in Wytham Wood near Oxford. A theoretical distribution is fitted to data on the dispersal of young birds, and a model is constructed to predict the amount of inbreeding expected in a large, uniform habitat in terms of the dispersal distribution and of the breeding structure of the population.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Broadbent, S R, and Kendall, D G. 1953. The random walk of Trichostrongylus retortaeformis. Biometrics, 9, 460–466.
Bulmer, M G, and Perrins, C M. 1973. Mortality in the Great Tit Parus major. Ibis, 115, 277–281.
Cavalli-Sforza, L L, and Bodmer, W F. 1970. The Genetics of Human Populations. W. H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco.
Dobzhansky, T. 1970. Genetics of the Evolutionary Process. Columbia University Press, New York.
Erdélyi, A. 1954. Tables of Integral Transforms, 2 vols. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Howard, W E. 1949. Dispersal, amount of inbreeding, and longevity in a local population of Prairie Deermice on the George Reserve, Southern Michigan. Contr Lab Vert Biol Univ Mich, 43, 1–50.
Kendeigh, S C. 1941. Territorial and mating behaviour of the House Wren. Ill Biol Monog, 18, 1–120.
Kluijver, H N. 1951. The population ecology of the Great Tit, Parus m. major L. Ardea, 39, 1–135.
Lack, D. 1954. The Natural Regulation of Animal Numbers. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Lack, D. 1966. Population Studies of Birds. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Malécot, G. 1967. Identical loci and relationship. Proc Fifth Berkeley Symp Math Stat Prob, 4, 317–332.
Morton, N E, Crow, J F, and Muller, H J. 1956. An estimate of the mutational damage in man from data on consanguineous marriages. Proc Nat Acad Sci, USA, 42, 855–863.
Nice, M M. 1937. Studies in the life history of the Song Sparrow. Trans Linn Soc New York, 4, 1–247.
Perrins, C M. 1965. Population fluctuations and clutch-size in the Great Tit, Parus major L. J Anim Ecol, 34, 601–647.
Pielou, E C. 1969. An Introduction to Mathematical Ecology. Wiley, New York.
Richdale, L E. 1957. A Population Study of Penguins. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Sittmann, K, Abplanalp, B, and Fraser, R A. 1966. Inbreeding depression in Japanese Quail. Genetics, 54, 371–379.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bulmer, M. Inbreeding in the great tit. Heredity 30, 313–325 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1973.41
Received:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1973.41
This article is cited by
-
Inbreeding depression in the wild
Heredity (1999)
-
Invasion of sibmating genes in diploid and haplodiploid populations
Evolutionary Ecology (1992)
-
Zur Populationsdynamik der Blaumeise (Parus caeruleus): Langfristige Studien bei Braunschweig
Journal für Ornithologie (1991)
-
Effective population size in a songbird: some possible implications
Heredity (1981)
-
Genetic variation among trait groups and apparent absence of close inbreeding in grey-crowned babblers
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (1980)
