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Inbreeding depression is a reduction in fitness associated with the partitioning of <br />deleterious alleles in the homozygous condition (Lande 1995). However, the result of ongoing <br />inbreeding-depression is a purging of deleterious alleles, and over time, an increase in population <br />fitness (Lynch et al. 1999). Genetic data generated in RBS broodstock development will allow <br />managers to preclude the mating of related individuals (Blouin et al. 1996; Norris et al. 2000), and <br />prevent both inbreeding and inbreeding depression. <br />Outbreeding and outbreeding depression <br />Outbreeding is the sexual combination of divergent genomes. Extreme outbreeding <br />results in developmental instability, and is often associated with sterility, particularly in the <br />heterogametic sex. Mules are an example of outbreeding. Outbreeding depression occurs when <br />the offspring have a reduced fitness because of the combination of diverse genomes. <br />Outbreeding depression can occur in the first generation by affecting the adaptation to fine <br />scale environmental conditions. Loss of local adaptation will result in a decrease in the overall <br />fitness of the population. Outbreeding depression as a result of hybrid breakdown occurs in the <br />second generation, when recombination produces a montage of maladaptive progeny (Burton <br />1990). Loss of population diversity or loss of population identity occurs in a captive propagation <br />program when different populations are mixed and interbreeding occurs. Outbreeding is <br />fundamentally as significant a problem as inbreeding (Burton 1990). The RBS population in <br />Lake Mohave is predicted to be a sump for inundated populations throughout the basin. If this is <br />true, then outbreeding is an ongoing process occurring in every spawning aggregation and not a <br />major concern in controlled propagation programs. <br />Domestication/artificial selection in captive populations <br />Genetic variation of captive populations can be altered on a hatchery when the <br />26