SREL Reprint #2110

Population genetics meets behavioral ecology

Derrick W. Sugg1, Ronald K. Chesser1,2, F. Stephen Dobson3, and John L. Hoogland4

1Division of Wildlife Ecology and Toxicology, University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, SC 29802, USA
2Dept of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
3Dept of Zoology and Wildlife Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
4University of Maryland's Appalachian Environmental Laboratory, Gunter Hall, Frostburg, MD 21532, USA

Abstract: Populations are often composed of more than just randomly mating subpopulations - many organisms form social groups with distinct patterns of mating and dispersal. Such patterns have received much attention in behavioral ecology, yet theories of population genetics rarely take social structures into account. Consequently, population geneticists often report high levels of apparent Inbreeding and concomitantly low effective sizes, even for species that avoid mating between close kin. Recently, a view of gene dynamics has been introduced that takes dispersal and social structure into account. Accounting for social structure In population genetics leads to a different perspective on how genetic variation is partitioned and the rate at which genic diversity is lost in natural populations - a view that is more consistent with observed behaviors for the minimization of inbreeding.

SREL Reprint #2110

Sugg, D.W., R.K. Chesser, F.S. Dobson, and J.L. Hoogland. 1996. Population genetics meets behavioral ecology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 11:338-342.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).