Task: Answer Verification
Input (English): Question: Does high lifetime inbreeding depression counteract the reproductive assurance benefit of selfing in a mass-flowering shrub?
Answer: Lifetime inbreeding depression strongly counteracts the advantage of reproductive assurance due to selfing in this long-lived species. The poor fitness of selfed offspring should counteract any evolution towards selfing, despite its potential to alleviate the negative consequences of pollen limitation. This study highlights the need to estimate lifetime inbreeding depression, together with mating system and pollination parameters, if we are to understand the actual benefit of selfing and avoid the overestimation of reproductive assurance.
Output (English): yes