Calculating Effective Sizes Based on Known Demographic
Parameters of a Population
Description
Effective population sizes (often abbreviated as "Neff") are essential in biodiversity monitoring and conservation. For the first time, calculating effective sizes with data obtained within less than a generation but considering demographic parameters is possible. This individual based model uses demographic parameters of a population to calculate annual effective sizes and effective population sizes (per generation). A defined number of alleles and loci will be used to simulate the genotypes of the individuals. Stepwise mutation rates can be included. Variations in life history parameters (sex ratio, sex-specific survival, recruitment rate, reproductive skew) are possible. These results will help managers to define existing populations as viable or not.