Ecology 6th Edition by Charles Krebs

Exercise 4

When organisms of the same species are brought together to breed from divergent geographic areas, outbreeding depression may occui in whidi the fertility or viability of the offspring is impaired (Templeton 1986). This is one reason why some biologists were opposed to the addition of panthers from Texas to the Florida panther population in 1995. Discuss the reasons outbreeding depression occurs and its implications for the conservation of the Florida panther. Pimm et al. (2006) give an overview of the controversy.