Are inbreeders better colonizers?

In order to test whether inbreeders are better colonizers, the Flora of the British Isles was surveyed for tabulating the distribution of colonizers and noncolonizers in relation to breeding systems and longevity. Several criteria and difficulties associated with such comparative surveys are briefly discussed. No overwhelming evidence for association was found between longevity and colonizing ability although predominant selfing was found to be significantly more common among the colonizers. However, such evidence for associations among various genetic and ecological factors accounting for high colonizing ability must be interpreted with caution when the role of longevity, ploidy, interfamily and interpopulation genetic variation, uncertainties about the habitat classification, etc., are taken into account.