An inclusive fitness model for the evolutionary advantage of sibmating

Summary

We construct an inclusive fitness model of the relative selective advantage of sibmating and outbreeding behaviour, under the assumption that inbred offspring pay a fitness penalty. We are particularly interested in the question of whether such inbreeding depression is enough to generate a stable phenotypic polymorphism, with both kinds of breeding observed. The model predicts that, under diploidy, such a polymorphism is never found, but under haplodiploidy, it exists for a narrow range of parameter values. The inclusive fitness argument is technically interesting because care must be taken with reproductive values. We also present a corrected version of a one-locus genetic model for sibmating and find that the inclusive fitness and genetic models give identical results when selection is weak.