Estimation of demographic parameters from isolation by distance

Abstract

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.