Conservation biology - Inbreeding leads to extinction

Opinion on the question of whether genetic problems such as inbreeding contribute to the extinction of wild populations has been divided between two camps. On the one hand, inbreeding reduces reproductive success but, on the other hand, environmental events could causes extinctions before genetic factors come into play. The debate has now been resolved by a study of a wild butterfly population in Finland — and the evidence weighs down in favour of a significant role for inbreeding in the extinction of wild populations.