Contrary to my hypothesis, the study revealed that paternally exposed females did not exhibit a significant avoidance of mating with kin. This suggests that the presence of their father during the early developmental period did not influence their mate preferences in terms of kin recognition and inbreeding avoidance.
The analysis of dominance among the females in both exposure groups showed no significant differences. This indicates that paternal exposure did not have a substantial impact on the social status or hierarchical position of the females within their groups, and thus, it did not influence the observed results.
My findings indicated that there was no significant effect of paternal exposure on the reproductive success of females. Whether the females were paternally exposed or unexposed, their ability to produce offspring was not significantly influenced by their early-life experiences with their father.
Regardless of paternal exposure, the analysis revealed that the dominance index was a crucial predictor of offspring production in both males and females. Individuals with higher dominance indexes tended to have higher reproductive success, suggesting the importance of social status in mating patterns and offspring production among the mice.
I conclude that paternal exposure did not have a direct influence on inbreeding avoidance, dominance played a significant role in shaping mating patterns and reproductive success among the mice, irrespective of their early-life experiences with their fathers.