Final answer:
Inbreeding is the mating of closely related individuals. It can lead to an increase in abnormalities and disease in a population, known as inbreeding depression. Inbreeding brings together rare, harmful mutations, reducing genetic diversity and the population's ability to adapt.
Step-by-step explanation:
Inbreeding is the mating of closely related individuals, such as siblings or parent-offspring. The effects of inbreeding on a population include an increase in abnormalities and disease. This is known as inbreeding depression, where the combination of related genomes during fertilization can result in reduced reproduction and survival.
Inbreeding brings together deleterious recessive mutations, which can cause abnormalities and susceptibility to diseases. This happens because close relatives share similar genetic material, and if they both carry a rare, harmful mutation, there is a higher chance of it being expressed in their offspring. Inbreeding also reduces genetic diversity, which lowers the population's ability to adapt to environmental changes.