Linkage disequilibrium and effective population size when generations overlap.

ABSTRACT: Estimates of effective population size are critical for species of conservation concern. Genetic datasets can be used to provide robust estimates of this important parameter. However, the methods used to obtain these estimates assume that generations are discrete. We used simulated data to assess the influences of overlapping generations on the estimates of effective size provided by the linkage disequilibrium (LD) method. Our simulations focus on two factors: the degree of reproductive skew exhibited by the focal species and the generation time, without considering sample size or the level of polymorphism at marker loci. In situations where a majority of reproduction is achieved by a small fraction of the population, the effective number of breeders can be much smaller than the per-genera

SUBMITTER: Robinson JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3689354 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature