Like humans, birds too avoid inbreeding
30 Jun 2009, 1653 Hrs

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Washington, June 30 Scientists have found that a strictly monogamous species of bird has the ability to choose partners with a different genetic profile.

The researchers, led by Richard Wagner from the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, said avoidance of inbreeding is evident among humans, and has been demonstrated in some shorebirds, mice and sand lizards. Now the black-legged kittiwake bird has been added to that list.

The scientists said they tracked 10 genetic markers to investigate whether kittiwakes avoid inbreeding by pairing with genetically distant mates, and whether inbreeding reduces the number of chicks they raised.

They found most pairs avoid inbreeding more often than expected by chance, suggesting kittiwakes can somehow tell who their relatives are in a large anonymous population.

The researchers said their study provides the first evidence of inbreeding avoidance in a strictly monogamous species, in which both parents contribute to rearing offspring.

Wagner conducted the study in collaboration with Etienne Danchin from Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France, as well as researchers from the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Parks, the Alaska Science Center and the University of Bern.

The study appears in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. (ANI)

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