Question

question 12 of 19
what is inbreeding depression?
○ an increase in the frequency of harmful alleles in a population due to natural selection
○ the production of offspring from the mating of closely related individuals
○ a decrease in fitness of a population as a result of related individuals breeding
○ a decrease in the size of a population, often following a natural disaster

Explanation:

Inbreeding depression specifically refers to the reduction in biological fitness (survival, reproduction, etc.) within a population caused by mating between closely related individuals, which increases homozygosity of harmful recessive alleles. The other options are incorrect: the first describes natural selection's effect (not inbreeding depression), the second is inbreeding itself (not the depression), and the fourth is a population bottleneck.

Answer:

a decrease in fitness of a population as a result of related individuals breeding