In every generation, more offspring are produced than can survive. You are studying the Elegant Rock Cress, a plant that is capable of self-fertilization, but is known to produce most of its progeny through outcrossing. Inbreeding depression is measured by comparing the fitness of individuals produced by different levels of inbreeding. Here, we could compare the fitness of offspring produced by forced self-fertilization to offspring produced by outcrossing from the same set of plants. All offspring and parents should be grown in a common environment.
W o are the fitness of selfed and outcrossed offspring.
You find another population of the same species, but with much smaller flowers, which in many species suggests a high rate of self-fertilization. You suspect that this population has evolved lower inbreeding depression than your original study population. Describe how you would apply a standard method that would let you test this idea. Testing whether evolution has occurred can be done with a common garden experiment. This will constitute a common garden experiment, in which everyone experiences the same environment, so that differences in inbreeding depression must be genetically based.