Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Conservation biology

Inbreeding leads to extinction

Nature volume 392, pages 441–442 (1998)Cite this article

Do genetic problems contribute to the endangerment and extinction of wild populations? Conservation biologists initially thought1 that they would — and seriously so. But it is extremely difficult to demonstrate that inbreeding contributes to the extinction of wild populations. On page 491 of this issue, however, Saccheri and colleagues2 provide the first direct evidence that it does, with their elegant work on a wild butterfly metapopulation in Finland.

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Doomed liaison — a mating pair of Glanville fritillary butterflies (Melitaea cinxia).

I. SACCHERI

References

  1. Frankel, O. H. &Soulé, M. E. Conservation and Evolution (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1981).

  2. Saccheri, I. et al. Nature 392, 491–494 (1998).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ralls, K., Ballou, J. D. & Templeton, A. Conserv. Biol. 2, 185–193 (1988).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Frankham, R. Annu. Rev. Genet. 29, 305–327 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Frankham, R. Conserv. Biol. 9, 792–799 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Lande, R. Science 241, 1455–1460 (1988).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Caro, T. M. & Laurenson, M. K. Science 263, 485–486 (1994).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Caughley, G. J. Anim. Ecol. 63, 215–244 (1994).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Mills, L. S. & Smouse, P. E. Am. Nat. 144, 412–431 (1994).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Frankham, R. Heredity 78, 311–327 (1997).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Frankham, R. Conserv. Biol. (in the press).

  12. Frankham, R. Genet. Res. 66, 95–107 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Newman, D. & Pilson, D. Evolution 51, 354–362 (1997).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the School of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, 2109, New South Wales, Australia

    Richard Frankham

  2. the Department of Zoological Research, National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20008, USA

    Katherine Ralls

Authors
  1. Richard Frankham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Katherine Ralls
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Frankham, R., Ralls, K. Inbreeding leads to extinction. Nature 392, 441–442 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/33022

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/33022

Further reading

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing