I will post on this more later but will say for now that BM ask the right question which was not answered. In the many studies on this topic that I have read and studied I have never seen any evidence of nor anyone suggest that F-1s (same species cross) exhibit outbreeding depression. I will point out that there is a natural range (area) of Fla and Nort LMB overlap where F-1 crosses occur in lakes , rivers and ponds. I have not heard of anyone in that geographical area saying that they are encountering outbreeding depression. This needs further research and study on my part to consider the full answer. It is evident from what I have read that there are opinion biases at work in the studies wrt LMB stocking , types ect.

I would be interested to hear if there is outbreeding depression when different breeds of cows or horses are crossed. One example given was "mutt dogs". I have serious doubts that is correct wrt dogs. They may be a mix of many dog breeds but that does not mean they are not as good or suffer from outbreeding depression.


Last edited by ewest; 12/09/08 11:12 AM.