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The effect of population size on effective population size: an empirical study in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

Leslie A. Pray
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
Charles J. Goodnight
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
Lori Stevens
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
James M. Schwartz
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
Guiyun Yan
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
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Despite the increasing number of studies on the magnitude of Ne/N ratios, much remains unknown about the effects of demographic and environmental variables on Ne/N. We determined Ne/N for seven population size treatments, ranging from N = 2 to N = 960, in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum. Ne/N decreased with increasing N, as evidenced by a significant negative relationship between log N and Ne/N. Our results are consistent with other published data on the relationship between Ne/N and N. Effective population sizes in large populations may be much smaller than previously recognized. These results have important implications for conservation and evolutionary biology.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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