The evolution of cooperation among animals has posed a major problem for evolutionary
biologists, and despite decades of research into avian cooperative breeding systems, many …

Animal ecologists commonly assume that the reduced fitness that often afflicts inbred
offspring will inevitably cause selection for inbreeding avoidance. Although early empirical …

Associated with a continued global increase in urbanization [1], anthropogenic light pollution
is an important problem [2]. However, our understanding of the ecological consequences of …

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a review of mate choice and genetic quality,
defines mate choice, and discusses some of the key issues about how individuals can …

Individual inbreeding coefficient (F) and pairwise relatedness (r) are fundamental
parameters in population genetics and have important applications in diverse fields such as …

Geographically limited dispersal can shape genetic population structure and result in a
correlation between genetic and geographic distance, commonly called isolation-by …

The long-term study of animal populations facilitates detailed analysis of processes
otherwise difficult to measure, and whose significance may appear only when a large …

The demography of a population is often reduced to the apparent (or local) survival of
individuals and their realised fecundity within a study area defined according to logistical …

Animal societies of varying complexity have been the favoured testing ground for inclusive
fitness theory, and there is now abundant evidence that kin selection has played a critical …

Individuals are expected to avoid mating with relatives as inbreeding can reduce offspring
fitness, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. This has led to the widespread …