Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Estimation of census and effective population sizes: the increasing usefulness of DNA-based approaches

  • Review
  • Published:
Conservation Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Population census size (N C) and effective population sizes (N e) are two crucial parameters that influence population viability, wildlife management decisions, and conservation planning. Genetic estimators of both N C and N e are increasingly widely used because molecular markers are increasingly available, statistical methods are improving rapidly, and genetic estimators complement or improve upon traditional demographic estimators. We review the kinds and applications of estimators of both N C and N e, and the often undervalued and misunderstood ratio of effective-to-census size (N e /N C). We focus on recently improved and well evaluated methods that are most likely to facilitate conservation. Finally, we outline areas of future research to improve N e and N C estimation in wild populations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allendorf FW, Luikart G (2007) Conservation and the genetics of populations. Blackwell, Malden

    Google Scholar 

  • Alter SE, Rynes E, Palumbi SR (2007) DNA evidence for historic population size and past ecosystem impacts of gray whales. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104:15162–15167

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson EC (2005) An efficient Monte Carlo method for estimating N e from temporally spaced samples using a coalescent-based likelihood method. Genetics 170:955–967

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Antao T, Lopes A, Lopes RJ, Beja-Pereira A, Luikart G (2008) LOSITAN: a workbench to detect molecular adaptation based on an F st-outlier method. BMC Bioinformatics 9:323

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ardren WR, Kapuscinski AR (2003) Demographic and genetic estimates of effective population size (N e) reveals genetic compensation in steelhead trout. Mol Ecol 12:35–49

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Balloux F (2004) Heterozygote excess in small populations and the heterozygote-excess effective population size. Evolution 58:1891–1900

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beaumont MA (2003) Estimation of population growth or decline in genetically monitored populations. Genetics 164:1139–1160

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beja-Pereira A, Oliviera R, Alves PC, MKSchwartz MK, Luikart G (2009) Advancing ecological understandings through technological transformations in noninvasive genetics. Mol Ecol Resour (in press)

  • Bellemain E, Swenson JE, Tallmon DA, Brunberg S, Taberlet P (2005) Estimating population size of elusive animals with DNA from hunter-collected feces: comparing four methods for brown bears. Conserv Biol 19:150–161

    Google Scholar 

  • Berthier P, Beaumont MA, Cornuet J-M, Luikart G (2002) Likelihood-based estimation of the effective population size using temporal changes in allele frequencies: a genealogical approach. Genetics 160:741–751

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bollback JP, York TL, Nielsen R (2008) Estimation of 2 Nes from temporal allele frequency data. Genetics 179:497–502

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boulanger J, Stenhouse G, Munro R (2004) Sources of heterogeneity bias when DNA mark-recapture sampling methods are applied to grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) populations. J Mammal 85:618–624

    Google Scholar 

  • Boulanger J, White GC, Proctor M, Stenhouse G, MacHutchon G, Himmer S (2008a) Use of occupancy models to estimate the influence of previous live captures on DNA-based detection probabilities of grizzly bears. J Wild Manag 72:589–595

    Google Scholar 

  • Boulanger J, Kendall KC, Stetz JB, Roon DA, Waits LP, Paetkau D (2008b) Multiple data sources improve DNA-based mark-recapture population estimates of grizzly bears. Ecol Appl 18:577–589

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Caballero A (1994) Developments in the prediction of effective population size. Heredity 73:657–679

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cam E, Nichols JD, Sauer JR, Hines JE (2002) On the estimation of species richness based on the accumulation of previously unrecorded species. Ecography 25:102–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell NR, Narum SR (2009) Quantitative PCR assessment of microsatellite and SNP genotyping with variable quality DNA. Conser Genet (in press)

  • Charlesworth B (2009) Effective population size and patterns of molecular evolution and variation. Nat Rev Genet 10:195–205

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cooch E, White G (2006) Program MARK: a gentle introduction, 5th edn. Colorado State University. Fort Collins, CO, USA. http://www.phidot.org/software/mark/docs/book/

  • Cooper AM, Miller LM, Kapuscinski AR (2009) Conservation of population structure and genetic diversity under captive breeding of remnant coaster brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations. Conserv Genet 10:0621–1566

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornuet J-M, Luikart G (1996) Description and evaluation of two tests for detecting recent population bottlenecks from allele frequency data. Genetics 144:2001–2014

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cornuet J-M, Santos F, Beaumont MA, Robert CP, Marin J-M, Balding DJ, Guillemaud T, Estoup A (2008) Inferring population history with DIY ABC: a user-friendly approach to Approximate Bayesian Computation. Bioinformatics 24:2713–2719

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Criscuolo F, Bize P, Nasir L, Metcalfe NB, Foote CG, Griffiths K (2009) Real-time quantitative PCR assay for measurement of avian telomeres. J Avian Biol 40:342–347

    Google Scholar 

  • Crow JF, Denniston C (1988) Inbreeding and variance effective population numbers. Evolution 42:482–495

    Google Scholar 

  • Drummond AJ, Rambaut A (2007) BEAST: Bayesian evolutionary analysis by sampling trees. BMC Evol Biol 7:214

  • Eggert LS, Eggert JA, Woodruff DS (2003) Estimation population sizes for elusive animals: elephants of Kakum National Park, Ghana. Mol Ecol 12:1389–1402

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eldridge WH, Killebrew E (2008) Genetic diversity over multiple generations of supplementation: an example from Chinook salmon using microsatellite and demographic data. Conserv Genet 9:13–28

    Google Scholar 

  • England PR, Cornuet J-M, Berthier P, Tallmon DA, Luikart G (2006) Estimating effective population size from linkage disequilibrium: severe bias using small samples. Conserv Genet 7:303–308

    Google Scholar 

  • England PR, Luikart G, Waples RS (in review) Early detection of population fragmentation using linkage disequilibrium estimation of effective population size

  • Ewens WJ (1982) On the concept of the effective population size. Theor Popul Biol 21:373–378

    Google Scholar 

  • Ficetola GF, Padoa-Schioppa E, Wang J, Garner TWJ (2009) Polygyny, census and effective population size in the threatened frog, Rana latastei. Anim Conserv (in press)

  • Fisher RA (1930) The genetical theory of natural selection. Oxford University Press, Oxford

  • Frankham R (1995) Effective population-size/adult-population size in wildlife populations: a review. Genet Res 66:95–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankham R (1995) Effective population size/adult population size ratios in wildlife: a review. Genet Res 66:95–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Frantz AC, Roper TJ (2006) Simulations to assess the performance of different rarefaction methods in estimating population size using small datasets. Conserv Genet 7:315–318

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser DJ, Hansen MM, Ostergaard S, Tessier N, Legault M, Bernatchez L (2007) Comparative estimation of effective population sizes and temporal gene flow in two contrasting population systems. Mol Ecol 16:3866–3889

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guschanski K, Vigilant L, McNeilage A, Gray M, Kagoda E, Robbins MM (2009) Counting elusive animals: comparing field and genetic census of the entire mountain gorilla population of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Biol Conserv 142:290–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Haroldson M, Schwartz C, Kendall K, Gunther K, Moody D, Frey K, Paetkau D (in press) Genetic analysis of individual origins supports isolation of grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Ursus

  • Harris RB, Allendorf FW (1989) Genetically effective population-size of large mammals—an assessment of estimators. Conserv Biol 3:181–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris RB, Winnie JR, Amish S, Beja-Pereira A, Godinho R, Luikart G (in press) Population estimation of argali (Ovis ammon) in the Afghan Pamir using capture-recapture modeling from fecal DNA. J Wildl Manage

  • Hauser L, Seeb JE (2008) Advances in molecular technology and their impact on fisheries genetics. Fish Fish 9:473–486

    Google Scholar 

  • Hauser L, Adcock GJ, Smith PJ, Ramirez JHB, Carvalho GR (2002) Loss of microsatellite diversity and low effective population size in an overexploited population of New Zealand snapper (Pagrus auratus). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 99:11742–11747

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haussler D et al (2009) Genome 10K: A proposal to obtain whole-genome sequence for 10,000 vertebrate species. J Hered 100:659–674

    Google Scholar 

  • Hedgecock D, Launey S, Pudovkin AI, Naciri Y, Lapègue S, Bonhomme F (2007) Small effective number of parents (Nb) inferred for a naturally spawned cohort of juvenile European flat oysters Ostrea edulis. Mar Biol 150:1173–1182

    Google Scholar 

  • Hedrick P, Hedgecock D, Hamelberg S, Croci S (2000) The impact of supplementation in winter-run Chinook salmon on effective population size. J Hered 91:112–116

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hilborn R (2002) The dark side of reference points. Bull Mar Sci 70:403–408

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill WG (1981) Estimation of effective population size from data on linkage disequilibrium. Genet Res 38:209–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Huggins RM (1991) Some practical aspects of a conditional likelihood approach to capture experiments. Biometrics 47:725–732

    Google Scholar 

  • Immell D, Anthony RG (2008) Estimation of black bear abundance using a discrete DNA sampling device. J Wildl Manag 72:324–330

    Google Scholar 

  • Jorde PE, Ryman N (1995) Temporal allele frequency change and estimation of effective size in populations with overlapping generations. Genetics 139:1077–1090

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jorde PE, Ryman N (1996) Demographic genetics of brown trout (Salmo trutta) and estimation of effective population size from temporal change of allele frequencies. Genetics 143:1369–1381

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jorde PE, Ryman N (2007) Unbiased estimator for genetic drift and effective population size. Genetics 177:927–935

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kalinowski SJ, Waples RS (2002) Relationship of effective to census size in fluctuating populations. Conserv Biol 16:129–136a

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendall KC, Stetz JB, Roon DA, Waits LP, Boulanger JB, Paetkau D (2008) Grizzly bear density in Glacier National Park, Montana. J Wildl Manag 72:1693–1705

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendall KC, Stetz JB, Boulanger JB, Mcleod AC, Paetkau D, White GC (2009) Demography and genetic structure of a recovering grizzly bear population. J. Wildl Manag 73:3–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Knapp SM, Craig BA, Waits LP (2009) Incorporating genotyping error into non-invasive DNA-based mark-recapture population estimates. J Wildl Manage 73:598–604

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn MH, York EC, Kamradt DA, Haught G, Sauvajot RM, Wayne RK (1999) Estimating population size by genotyping faeces. Proc R Soc Lond B 266:657–663

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krimbas CB, Tsakas S (1971) The genetics of Dacus oleae V. Changes of esterase polymorphism in a natural population following insecticide control—selection or drift? Evolution 25:454–460

    Google Scholar 

  • Leberg P (2005) Genetic approaches for estimating the effective size of populations. J Wildl Manag 69:1385–1399

    Google Scholar 

  • Luikart G, Cornuet J-M (1999) Estimating the effective number of breeders from heterozygote-excess in progeny. Genetics 151:1211–1216

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Luikart G, Sherwin W, Steele B, Allendorf FW (1998) Usefulness of molecular markers for detecting population bottlenecks via monitoring genetic change. Mol Ecol 7:963–974

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Luikart G, Cornuet J-M, Allendorf FW (1999) Temporal changes in allele frequencies provide estimates of population bottleneck size. Conserv Biol 13:523–530

    Google Scholar 

  • Luikart G, England PR, Tallmon D, Jordan S, Taberlet P (2003) The power and promise of population genomics: from genotyping to genome typing. Nat Rev Genet 4:981–994

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lukacs PM, Burnham KP (2005) Review of capture recapture methods applicable to noninvasive sampling. Mol Ecol 14:3909–3919

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lukacs PM, Eggert LS, Burnham KP (2007) Estimating population size from multiple detections with non-invasive genetic data. Wildl Biol Practice 3:83–92

    Google Scholar 

  • MacKenzie DI, Royle JA (2005) Designing occupancy studies: general advice and allocating survey effort. J Appl Ecol 42:1105–1114

    Google Scholar 

  • MacKenzie DI, Nichols JD, Royle JA, Pollock KH, Bailey LL, Hines JE (2005) Occupancy estimation and modeling. Academic Press, Burlington, MA, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • MacKenzie DI, Nichols JD, Royle JA, Pollock KP, Bailey LL, Hines JE (2006) Occupancy estimation and modeling: inferring patterns and dynamics of species occurrence. Academic Press. San Diego, California, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Marucco F, PletscherDH, Boitani L, Schwartz MK, Pilgrim C, Lebreton JD (2009) Wolf survival and population trend using non-invasive capture-recapture techniques in the Western Alps. J Appl Ecol (in press)

  • Miller CR, Waits LP (2003) The history of effective population size and genetic diversity in the Yellowstone grizzly (Ursus arctos): implications for conservation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:4334–4339

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller CR, Joyce P, Waits L (2005) A new method for estimating the size of small populations from genetic mark-recapture data. Mol Ecol 14:1991–2005

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Musgrave-Brown E, Ballard D, Balogh K et al (2007) Forensic validation of the SNPforID 52-plex assay. Forensic Sci Int 1:186–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Nei M, Tajima F (1981) Genetic drift and estimation of effective population size. Genetics 98:625–640

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nomura T (2008) Estimation of effective number of breeders from molecular coancestry of single cohort sample. Evol Appl 1:462–474

    Google Scholar 

  • Nunney L (1993) The influence of mating system and overlapping generations on effective population size. Evolution 47:1329–1341

    Google Scholar 

  • Nunney L (2002) The effective size of annual plant populations: the interaction of a seed bank with fluctuating population size in maintaining genetic variation. Am Nat 160:195–204

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ovenden J, Peel D, Street R, Courtney A, Hoyle S, Peel S, Podlich H (2007) The genetic effective and adult census size of an Australian population of tiger prawns (Penaeus esculentus). Mol Ecol 16:127–138

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Palm S, Laikre L, Jorde PE, Ryman N (2003) Effective population size and temporal genetic change in stream resident brown trout (Salmo trutta L.). Conserv Genet 4:249–264

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Palstra FP, Ruzzante DE (2008) Genetic estimates of contemporary effective population size: what can they tell us about the importance of genetic stochasticity for wild population persistence? Mol Ecol 17:3428–3447

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peel D, Ovenden JR, Peel SL (2004) Neestimator: software for estimating effective population size, Queensland Government, Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Brisbane, Australia, version 12

  • Perkel J (2008) SNP genotyping: six technologies that keyed a revolution. Nat Methods 5:447–453

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Petit E, Valiere N (2006) Estimating population size with noninvasive capture-mark-recapture data. Conserv Biol 20:1062–1073

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Piry S, Luikart G, Cornuet J-M (1999) Bottleneck: a computer program for detecting recent reductions in effective population size from allele frequency data. J Hered 90:502–503

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollak E (1983) A new method for estimating the effective population size from allele frequency changes. Genetics 104:531–548

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pompanon F, Bonin A, Bellemain E, Taberlet P (2005) Genotyping errors: causes, consequences and solutions. Nat Rev Gen 6:847–850

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pray LA, Goodnight CJ, Stevens L, Schwartz JM, Yan G (1996) The effect of population size on effective population size: an empirical study in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum. Genet Res 68:151–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Prugh LR, Ritland CE, Arthur SM, Krebs CJ (2005) Monitoring coyote population dynamics by genotyping faeces. Mol Ecol 14:1585–1596

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pudovkin AI, Zaykin DV, Hedgecock D (1996) On the potential for estimating the effective number of breeders from Heterrozygote-excess in progeny. Genetics 144:383–387

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Puechmaille S, Petit E (2007) Empirical evaluation of non-invasive Capture-Mark-Recapture estimates of population size based on a single sampling session. J Appl Ecol 44:843–852

    Google Scholar 

  • Ren F, Li C, Xi H, Wen Y, Huang K (2009) Estimation of human age according to telomere shortening in peripheral blood leukocytes of Tibetan. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 30:252–255

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson SJ, Waits LP, Martin ID (2009) Estimating abundance of American black bears using DNA-based capture-mark-recapture models. Ursus 20:1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryman N, Baccus R, Reuterwall C, Smith MH (1981) Effective population size, generation interval, and potential loss of genetic variability in game species under different hunting regimes. Oikos 36:257–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Saura M, Caballero A, Caballero P, Moran P (2008) Impact of precocious male parr on the effective size of a wild population of Atlantic salmon. Freshw Biol 53:2375–2384

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz MK, Tallmon DA, Luikart G (1998) Review of DNA-based census and effective population size estimators. Anim Conserv 1:293–299

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz MK, Tallmon DA, Luikart G (1999) DNA-based methods for estimating population size: many methods, much potential, unknown utility. Anim Conserv 2:321–323

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz MK, Luikart G, Waples RS (2007) Genetic monitoring as a promising tool for conservation and management. Trends Ecol Evol 22:25–33

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz MK, McKelvey KS (2008) Why sampling scheme matters: the effect of sampling scheme on landscape genetic results. Conserv Genet 10:441–452

    Google Scholar 

  • Seber GAF (1973) The estimation of animal abundance and related parameters. Edward Arnold, London, p 506

    Google Scholar 

  • Settlage KE, Van Manen FT, Clark JD, King TL (2008) Challenges of DNA-based mark-recapture studies of American black bears. J Wildl Manag 72:1035–1042

    Google Scholar 

  • Simões P, Pascual M, Santos J, Rose MR, Matos M (2009) Evolutionary dynamics of molecular markers during local adaptation: a case study in Drosophila subobscura. BMC Evol Biol 9:133–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Solberg H, Bellemain E, Drageset OM, Taberlet P, Swenson JE (2006) An evaluation of field and genetic methods to estimate brown bear (Ursus arctos) population size. Biol Conserv 128:158–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Taberlet P, Waits L, Luikart G (1999) Non-invasive genetic sampling: look before you leap. Trends Ecol Evol 14:323–327

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tallmon DA, Luikart G, Beaumont MA (2004) Comparative evaluation of a new effective population size estimator based on approximate Bayesian computation. Genetics 167:977–988

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tallmon DA, Koyuk A, Luikart G, Beaumont MA (2008) ONeSAMP: a program to estimate effective population size using approximate Bayesian computation. Mol Ecol Resour 8:299–301

    Google Scholar 

  • Valière N, Bonenfant C, Toïgo C, Luikart G, Gaillard J-M, Klein F (2006) Importance of a pilot study for non-invasive genetic sampling: genotyping errors and population size estimation in red deer. Conserv Genet 8:69–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitalis R, Couvet D (2001) Estimation of effective population rate from one- and two-locus identity measures. Genetics 157:911–925

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waits LP, Paetkau D (2005) Noninvasive genetic sampling tools for wildlife biologists: a review of applications and recommendations for accurate data collection. J Wildl Manag 69:1419–1433

    Google Scholar 

  • Wakeley J, Sargsyan O (2009) Extensions of the coalescent effective population size. Genetics 181:341–345

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J (2001) A pseudo-likelihood method for estimating effective population size from temporally spaced samples. Genet Res 78:243–257

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J (2005) Estimation of effective population sizes from data on genetic markers. Phil Trans R Soc B 360:1395–1409

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J (2009) A new method for estimating effective population size from a single sample of multilocus genotypes. Mol Ecol 18:2148–2164

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J, Whitlock MC (2003) Estimating effective population size and migration rates from genetic samples over space and time. Genetics 163:429–446

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waples RS (1989) A generalized approach for estimating effective population size from temporal changes in allele frequency. Genetics 121:379–391

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waples RS (1990) Conservation genetics of Pacific salmon III. Estimating effective population size. J Hered 81:277–289

    Google Scholar 

  • Waples RS (1991) Genetic methods for estimating the effective size of cetacean populations. Rep Int Whal Commn (special issue 13):279–300

  • Waples RS (2002) Evaluating the effect of stage-specific survivorship on the N e/N ratio. Mol Ecol 11:1029–1037

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waples RS (2005) Genetic estimates of contemporary effective population size: to what time periods do the estimates apply? Mol Ecol 14:3335–3352

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waples RS (2006) A bias correction for estimates of effective population size based on linkage disequilibrium at unlinked gene loci. Conserv Genet 7:167–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Waples RS, Do C (2008) LdNe: a program for estimating effective population size from data on linkage disequilibrium. Mol Ecol Resour 8:753–756

    Google Scholar 

  • Waples RS, Do C (in press) Linkage disequilibrium estimates of contemporary N e using SNPs and highly polymorphic molecular markers: an evaluation of precision and bias. Evol Appl

  • Waples RS, Yokota M (2007) Estimates of effective population size in species with overlapping generations. Genetics 177:927–935

    Google Scholar 

  • Weir BS, Hill WG (1980) Effect of mating structure on variation in linkage disequilibrium. Genetics 95:447–488

    Google Scholar 

  • White GC, Burnham KP (1999) Program MARK: survival estimation from populations of marked animals. Bird Study 46(Supplement):120–138

    Google Scholar 

  • White GC, Kendall WL, Barker RJ (2006) Multistate survival models and their extensions in Program MARK. J Wildl Manag 70:1521–1529

    Google Scholar 

  • Worley KJ, Carey J, Veitch A, Coltman DW (2006) Detecting the signature of selection on immune genes in highly structured populations of wild sheep (Ovis dalli). Mol Ecol 15:623–637

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wright S (1931) Evolution in Mendelian populations. Genetics 16:97–159

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wright JA, Barker RJ, Schofield MR, Frantz AC, Byrom AE, Gleeson DM (2009) Incorporating genotype uncertainty into mark-recapture-type models for estimating abundance using DNA samples. Biometrics 65:833–840

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhdanova OL, Pudovkin AI (2008) Nb_HetEx: a program to estimate the effective number of breeders. J Hered 99:694–695

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This article is based partially on work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation Grant DEB 074218 to F.W.A, and G.L. G.L. was supported by the Portuguese-American Science Foundation, CIBIO-UP, the National Park Service (USA) and research grant PTDC/BIA-BDE/65625/2006 from the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT). We thank R. Waples and R. Harris for many helpful citations and comments, and P. Taberlet for the citation on PCR-based aging of birds. Some ideas here arose from the Genetic Monitoring Working Group jointly supported by the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NSF #EF-0423641) and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, a Center funded by NSF (NSF #EF-0553768), the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the State of California. This work also benefited from association with the ESF Science Networking Programme ConGen.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gordon Luikart.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Luikart, G., Ryman, N., Tallmon, D.A. et al. Estimation of census and effective population sizes: the increasing usefulness of DNA-based approaches. Conserv Genet 11, 355–373 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-010-0050-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-010-0050-7

Keywords

Navigation