Questions tagged [population-biology]

Questions pertaining to populations of organisms.

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Book recommendation on selective breeding?

I am looking for a good book that gives a nice overview of the science and technics of selective breeding. I am particularly interested in the use of population genetics to support decision in this ...
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How to calculate the effective population size ($N_e$) with overlapping generations?

From this Source: If generations are overlapping, then the effective population size $N_e$ does not equal the population size $N$. I know mathematical formulations in order to find the effective ...
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Mutation-Selection-Drift Equilibrium

mutation-selection-drift equilibrium is one of the most important concept of population genetics. I could easily find the calculations for mutation-secltion equilibrium and for mutation-drift ...
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$F_{ST}$ and the genetic variance in metapopulations

From this video (21'15''), the speaker gives the following formulae in order to calculate the between and among populations genetic variance from the $F_{ST}$: $$V_{Among Pop} = 2 F_{ST}V_G$$ $$V_{...
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Is it possible for two people to repopulate earth? [closed]

Today I was wondering this question whether it is possible for two people to repopulate Earth. What if everyone else disappeared, except for two people (man & woman)? Can they repopulate? In ...
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Why does the number of mutations per individuals follow a Poisson distribution?

I was reading this review. On page 11, left column, first paragraph, one can read: [..] there is a Poisson distribution of the equilibrium number of mutations per individual, if fitness effects are ...
Remi.b's user avatar
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Have there ever been as many mammals as there are now?

I apologize for the weird question, but based on a Google search it looks like this topic hasn't been discussed before. I'm hoping that enough information about population biology is stored in the ...
StarlightDown's user avatar
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Coalescent theory - independence of coalescent times

Let $T_i$ be the time to coalesce from $n(t)=i+1$ to $n(t)=i$, where $n(t)$ is the number of sites that have not coalesced yet. In the below example the maximum $n(0)=6$. As I understand it, many ...
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Inbreeding depression and dominance

From this article, second paragraph of the second page A classic theoretical result is that the mean of a character controlled by a single locus i with two alleles Ai1 and Ai2 is only affected by ...
Remi.b's user avatar
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Does a large effective population size result in faster decay of linkage disequilibrium (LD)?

I am thinking about an invasive species that was introduced into North America just a few (<20) generations ago. Using microsatellite genotypes (105 loci), I have identified almost no significant ...
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What's in a Name: Statistical Genetics

The novice often performs population calculations using what is referred to as Mendelian Genetics. Soon after the publication of Mendel's results; Hardy and Weinberg presented their results after the ...
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What type of Interspecific relationship does this graph depict?

The other day in class, our AP Biology teacher presented us with the following graph and asked us to determine which of the following interspecific relationships it represents: (A) commensalism (B) ...
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Examples of prey predator interactions where density of predator is very low and prey form groups when the predator attacks the prey for food

Examples of prey predator interactions where density of predator is very low (has a threat of extinction) and prey form groups when the predator attacks the prey for food. I have searched this in ...
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Can predator-prey relationship be an example of negative feedback?

Predators eat their prey, prey population decreases. This results in the predator population to decrease, so less prey are consumed which causes the prey population to increase. Therefore, if the ...
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How to give a biological interpretation to this phase portrait?

Consider the following system and analyze its behavior. $$\begin{array}{rl} \frac{dA}{dt} &= A \left( 2-\frac{A}{5000}-\frac{L}{100} \right)\\ \frac{dL}{dt} &= L \left(-\frac{1}{2}+\frac{A}{...
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Calculation of Malthusian fertility and mortality from birth and death rates

In a simple Malthusian model, the population $p$ grows according to $p = p_0e^{rt}$, where $r = \beta - \mu$, $\beta$ is the "fertility" parameter and $\mu$ the "mortality" parameter. In the case of $\...
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How to determine the relationship of competition or cooperation?

I am currently studying the interaction of Twitter memes (two or many), such as competition and cooperation. Is there any model or method in biology that can identify the types of the relationship, ...
Shuai Zhang's user avatar
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What is the distribution of the number of heterozygotes in finite populations?

Consider a bi-allelic locus with alleles A and a. We denote the frequency of the A allele by ...
Remi.b's user avatar
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How do we call a region of low carrying capacity?

I am looking for a convenient word to define a region of the landscape where the local carrying capacity (population size) for a given species is low but different from zero. The species is still ...
Remi.b's user avatar
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Software to calculate Fst from sequence data

I'm looking for a software to calculate Fst from 3 loci DNA data of individuals from a metapopulation. I don't have any prior on the population structure (have no idea of the number of subpopulations ...
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Heterozygosity under genetic drift

The wright-Fisher model of genetic drift is: $$p_{ij} = \binom{2N}{j}\left(\frac{i}{2N}\right)^j \left(1- \frac{i}{2N}\right)^{2N-j} $$ ,where $\binom{2N}{j}$ is a binomial coefficient. From this ...
Remi.b's user avatar
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Techniques to find out which species are endangered

Most countries have a list of endangered species and international organisations too issue such lists of vulnerable and endangered species. What mathematical or statistical models are those estimates ...
Ishan Kashyap Hazarika's user avatar
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Parametric Bootstrap Capture Recapture

I am using the (one sample) capture recapture for estimating hidden human population. One sample method uses purely frequencies of capture to estimate population. One of my colleague suggested ...
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Is there any example, where cooperative behaviour of predators induce fear in prey population?

I am basically from math background and doing Ph.D in mathematical biology. So I am not so efficient in biology. But my problem based on cooperative behaviour of animals during hunting which is ...
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What is the effective population size of a simple two deme metapopulation?

I am confused as to how to compute the effective population size $N_e$ of a theoretical structured population. Let's consider here a simple case study. Imagine a 2-deme metapopulation. Each deme is ...
Remi.b's user avatar
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Understanding the meaning of $s$ and $t$ in a population genetics equation

Sewall Wright in this article (1937) at the end of page 313 gives the equation: $$\Delta q = (s+tq)q(1-q) \space\space\space\space\space\space\space\space\space(1)$$ This equation is an ...
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Population genetics and the fitness probability distribution. Why is the arithmetic mean all we need?

When recording change in allele frequency in diploid, bi-allelic, infinite and panmixic population we usually use this kind of equation: $\delta_p = \frac{p * q *( p (w11 - w12) + q * (w12 - w22))}{\...
Remi.b's user avatar
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What is the global average BMI?

I have been looking for hours trying to find this number, and can't seem to get a straight answer. I've seen some studies that calculate the change in BMI, but for some reason they don't give you the ...
123's user avatar
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What proportion of the people who lived 1000 years ago have genetic descendants alive today?

For context, I've been wondering about this for a paper I'm writing (in philosophy). Really, I want to figure out the chances that someone alive today will end up still having descendants 1000 years ...
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Value of r (intrinsic rate of natural increase)

What is the current value of 'r' (instrinsic rate of natural increase) in India? How do we calculate it? My book says that In 1981, the r value for human population in India was 0.0205. But this ...
Shreya Varshney's user avatar
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1 answer
213 views

Mathematical model about the relationship between two animal species

I'd like to relate a mathematical model with two animal species. This is the model: $$ \begin{split} \frac{dN}{dt} & =rN-\frac{rN(N+M)}{k} \\ \frac{dM}{dt} & =r'M-\frac{r'M(N+M)}{k'} \end{...
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Defining: Evolutionary (quantitative) Genetics and Population Genetics

How do we define the fields that are Evolutionary (quantitative) genetics and population genetics. What set these two fields apart? Can you try to provide definitions? To my intuitive understanding, ...
Remi.b's user avatar
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What are the long term consequences of settling an isolated territory with an extremely limited gene pool?

I remember reading about a discredited theory - I'm afraid that, despite some frantic Googling, I've been unable to track down a link - which stated that Australia was first settled by a woman, ...
Tom Hosker's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
325 views

What are the migratory patterns of Orcas in the Pacific Northwest? Do they pass by Vancouver in the Fall?

What are the migratory patterns of Orcas in the Pacific Northwest? Do the pass by Vancouver in the Fall? I know you can never predict the sightings of a wild creature, but I was wondering what the ...
Butterfly and Bones's user avatar
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1 answer
131 views

Will Fst (inbreeding coefficient) always be a value close or at 0 in asexual populations?

FST is the average inbreeding coefficient of a total population. The equation is: $F_{ST} = \frac{Var(S)}{Var(T)} $ $Var(S)$ = variance in the frequency of the allele between different subpopulations, ...
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What does 'per capita births and deaths' mean?

My book says, If in a pond there are 20 lotus plants last year and through reproduction 8 new plants are added, taking the current population to 28, we calculate the birth rate as 8/20 = 0.4 ...
Shreya Varshney's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
381 views

Relationship between genetic diversity within and between species

Here is a quote from Wagner (2008) A second line of evidence [against neutralism] comes from the relationship between the mean number of polymorphic differences between alleles within a species, $\...
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Where can I find a global life expectancy table?

I've found good information on specific countries and demographics, but I can't seem to find global numbers. I know that the world life expectancy is around 71.0, but I'm trying to get a percentile ...
123's user avatar
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Who was the first to coin the terms of soft and hard selection?

Soft and hard selection are sometimes used with different definitions. I have been told that at first place hard and soft selection has been defined in the following way: soft selection: Each deme ...
Remi.b's user avatar
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Recessive alleles at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium

I've run into a question that I disagree with others on but I would like to receive the input of others. The question is: If a population is at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, which of the following can ...
Shrey's user avatar
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$F_{ST}$ when considering a multi-allelic locus

Sewall Wright defined the $F_{ST}$ in a metapopulation as being: $$F_{ST} = \frac{\text{Var}(p)}{\bar p (1-\bar p)}$$ , where $p$ is a vector of frequencies of a given allele and $\bar p$ and $\text{...
Remi.b's user avatar
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How to model species interactions on population size dynamic?

Here are two classical discrete time models of population size dynamic. The exponential growth model $$N_{t+1} = r\cdot N_t \qquad\qquad(1)$$ and the logistic growth model $$N_{t+1} = r\cdot N_t \...
Remi.b's user avatar
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Linkage between chromosomal loci and the Hardy-Weinberg principle

Referring to the Hardy-Weinberg principle, which is always stated with respect to a particular locus on the chromosome, if we observe that two different loci are either always together in Hardy-...
Naman Gupta's user avatar
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1 answer
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Impact of Natural Selection on Population Size [closed]

I have conducted a lab with my IB Biology 11 class, regarding changes in allele frequencies within generations overseeing the natural selection of an advantageous phenotype. We were looking to ...
Johnny Toff's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
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Confusion over equations for population's heterozygosity vs. heterozygous individuals

On page 24 of Gillespie's Population Genetics, 2nd ed, an equation for $H$, the probability that two randomly drawn alleles are different by state, is given. $H$ is stated to be similar to the ...
ghgh's user avatar
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Additive genetic variance with $n$ loci

The genetic variance of a quantitative trait (the quantitative trait in question is fitness) can be express as the sum of two components, the dominance and additive variance: $$\sigma_D^2 + \sigma_A^...
Remi.b's user avatar
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Additive genetic variance with $n$ alleles

The genetic variance of a quantitative trait (the quantitative trait in question is fitness) can be express as the sum of two components, the dominance and additive variance: $$\sigma_D^2 + \sigma_A^...
Remi.b's user avatar
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2 votes
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Why will world population keep growing if all women have only 2.1 children

Why is it that, even if we were going to immediately agree that every women will not have more than 2.1 children on average, the world population would continue to grow for another 60 years? I've ...
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Range for which the Verhulst-Pearl model is a good approximate

The Verhulst-Pearl model describes the growth of a population using the differential equation, $$\frac{dN}{dt}=rN \left(\frac{K-N}{K} \right)$$ where N is the population (no. of organisms), r, the ...
Elendil's user avatar
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Is a nightly curfew an effective intervention strategy for limiting the spread of an infectious disease? [closed]

The governing bodies of several geographic areas hit by disease outbreaks will sometimes impose a nightly curfew on their citizens, restricting or limiting the ability of their citizens from going ...
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