RESEARCH ARTICLE Temporal variation of gen

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atlantic salmon; Temporal variation; Genetic diversity; Genetic structure; Fishing pressure
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.668.8233; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3852729/pdf/1471-2156-14-88.pdf

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground Most empirical studies of genetic structure in natural populations use a single sampling time point, assuming that the genetic pattern is stable over time [1]. However, temporal fluctuations in the allelic frequencies due to genetic drift or to habitat changes can occur, particularly in small populations [2]. Compared to large populations, small populations have a much higher possibility of losing genetic diversity due to drift, and thus, they may experi-ence accumulating effects of inbreeding, which results in a relatively low fitness [3,4]. However, the negative effects of inbreeding may be lessened by gene flow [5], while simul-taneously decreasing genetic divergence between popula-tions [6]. Thus, knowledge regarding the strength of the evolutionary forces such as gene flow and random genetic drift in the shaping of genetic structure in natural popula-tions has important implications for effective species