A New Method of Estimating the Pollen Dispersal Curve Independently of Effective Density
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- Juan J Robledo-Arnuncio
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Cook College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-8551 and
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- Frédéric Austerlitz
- Laboratoire de Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, UMR CNRS 8079, Université Paris-Sud, F-91405 Orsay Cedex, France
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- Peter E Smouse
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, Cook College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-8551 and
説明
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>We introduce a novel indirect method of estimating the pollen dispersal curve from mother–offspring genotypic data. Unlike an earlier indirect approach (TwoGener), this method is based on a normalized measure of correlated paternity between female pairs whose expectation does not explicitly depend on the unknown effective male population density (de). We investigate the statistical properties of the new method, by comparison with those of TwoGener, considering the sensitivity to reductions of de, relative to census density, resulting from unequal male fecundity and asynchronous flowering. Our main results are: (i) it is possible to obtain reliable estimates of the average distance of pollen dispersal, δ, from indirect methods, even under nonuniform male fecundity and variable flowering phenology; (ii) the new method yields more accurate and more precise δ-estimates than TwoGener under a wide range of sampling and flowering scenarios; and (iii) TwoGener can be used to obtain approximate de estimates, if needed for other purposes. Our results also show that accurately estimating the shape of the tail of the pollen dispersal function by means of indirect methods remains a very difficult challenge.</jats:p>
収録刊行物
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- Genetics
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Genetics 173 (2), 1033-1045, 2006-06-01
Oxford University Press (OUP)