Samples from subdivided populations yield biased estimates of effective size that overestimate the rate of loss of genetic variation.

ABSTRACT: Many empirical studies estimating effective population size apply the temporal method that provides an estimate of the variance effective size through the amount of temporal allele frequency change under the assumption that the study population is completely isolated. This assumption is frequently violated, and the magnitude of the resulting bias is generally unknown. We studied how gene flow affects estimates of effective size obtained by the temporal method when sampling from a population system and provide analytical expressions for the expected estimate under an island model of migration. We show that the temporal method tends to systematically underestimate both local and global effective size when populations are connected by gene flow, and the bias is sometimes dramatic. The problem

SUBMITTER: Ryman N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4274017 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature