Abstract
The ratio of the effective population size to adult (or census) population size (Ne/N) is an indicator of the extent of genetic variation expected in a population. It has been suggested that this ratio may be quite low for highly fecund species in which there is a sweepstakes-like chance of reproductive success, known as the Hedgecock effect. Here I show theoretically how the ratio may be quite small when there are only a few successful breeders (Nb) and that in this case, the Ne/N ratio is approximately Nb/N. In other words, high variance in reproductive success within a generation can result in a very low effective population size in an organism with large numbers of adults and consequently a very low N e/N ratio. This finding appears robust when there is a large proportion of families with exactly two progeny or when there is random variation in progeny numbers among these families.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1596-1599 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Evolution |
Volume | 59 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2005 |
Keywords
- Conservation genetics
- Effective population size
- Hedgecock effect
- N /N ratio
- Oysters
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Genetics
- General Agricultural and Biological Sciences