Estimation of demographic parameters from isolation by distance.
The demographic parameters for evolutionary population size N, effective systematic pressure m, and standard deviation of short-range migration sigma may be estimated from the Malécot parameters for isolation by distance. This is shown to be accurate in simulated and actual data, giving rather small values of N and substantial values of m. An extension is suggested to partition the effective systematic pressure into short-range and long-range components. The genetic structure of populations may now be determined from bioassay of kinship, without dependence on evidence from migration and genealogy which remains valuable but no longer indispensable.
D003241:Consanguinity; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D011156:Population Density