Long runs of homozygosity are reliable genomic markers of inbreeding depression

A long-standing goal in ecological, evolutionary, and conservation genetics is to identify genomic correlates of fitness and inbreeding depression. Over the past several years, a growing body of theoretical and empirical work in diverse mammal and bird taxa has established a strong link between long runs of homozygosity (ROH) and inbreeding depression. Here, we develop a new statistic, IDrisk, which quantifies how long ROH together with heterozygosity in non-ROH regions can be used to predict the risk of inbreeding depression in a population. We highlight the broad utility of the IDrisk statistic when applied to 24 bird and mammal populations, providing critical information to guide conservation decisions in cases where more direct measures of fitness are not available.