Open AccessExtra‐pair fertilization and effective population size in the song sparrow Melospiza melodia
Author(s) -
D. O'Connor Kathleen,
B. Marr Amy,
Arcese Peter,
F. Keller Lukas,
J. Jeffery Kathryn,
W. Bruford Michael
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of avian biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.022
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1600-048X
pISSN - 0908-8857
DOI - 10.1111/j.2006.0908-8857.03681.x
Subject(s) - biology , sparrow , reproductive success , population , mating system , mating , population size , pedigree chart , demography , effective population size , statistics , zoology , genetic variation , genetics , mathematics , sociology , gene
The concept of effective population size (N e ) is used widely by conservation and evolutionary biologists as an indicator of the genetic state of populations, but its precision and relation to the census population size is often uncertain. Extra‐pair fertilizations have the potential to bias estimates of N e when they affect the number of breeders or their estimated reproductive success tallied from social pedigrees. We tested if the occurrence of extra‐pair fertilizations influenced estimates of N e in a resident population of song sparrows Melospiza melodia using four years of detailed behavioural and genetic data. Estimates of N e based on social and genetic data were nearly identical and averaged c. 65% of the census population size over four years, despite that 28% of 471 independent young were sired outside of social pairs. Variance in male reproductive success also did not differ between estimates based on social and genetic data, indicating that extra‐pair mating had little effect on the distribution of reproductive success in our study population. Our results show that the genetic assignment will not always be necessary to estimate N e precisely.