Effective Population Size

Michael C Whitlock, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Published online: July 2006

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0005443

The effective size of a population (Ne) is the size of an ideal population that has the same amount of genetic drift, change in heterozygosity or rate of fixation as the population. Thus Ne can predict these quantities in a nonideal population.

Keywords: random genetic drift; fixation; theoretical population genetics; ideal population; inbreeding; genetic variance

 Further Reading
    Caballero A (1994) Developments in the prediction of effective population size. Heredity 73: 657–679.
    Wang JL and Caballero A (1999) Developments in predicting the effective size of subdivided populations. Heredity 82: 212–226.

Related Sub-Topics:

Population Structure and Genetics | Population Ecology
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Article Title: Effective Population Size
 
How to Cite close
Whitlock, Michael C(Jul 2006) Effective Population Size. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0005443]