Evolution: Selfing Takes Species Down Stebbins's Blind Alley

Jeremiah W Busch; Lynda F Delph

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.11.030

Evolution: Selfing Takes Species Down Stebbins's Blind Alley

Curr Biol. 2017 Jan 23;27(2):R61-R63. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.11.030.

Authors

Jeremiah W Busch¹, Lynda F Delph²

Affiliations

¹ School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, PO Box 644236, Pullman, WA 99164, USA. Electronic address: jwbusch@wsu.edu.
² Department of Biology, Indiana University, 1001 E. 3rd St., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. Electronic address: ldelph@indiana.edu.

PMID: 28118589
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.11.030

Abstract

Shifts from outcrossing to selfing have occurred thousands of times across the tree of life. By reducing the size of the gene pool, selfing should limit adaptive potential. A refreshing empirical experiment with snails supports this long-standing hypothesis.

Publication types

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MeSH terms

Animals
Biological Evolution*
Self-Fertilization*
Snails