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Are heritability and selection related to population size in nature? Meta‐analysis and conservation implications

Overview of attention for article published in Evolutionary Applications, April 2016
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  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (94th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (87th percentile)

Mentioned by

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3 news outlets
blogs
1 blog
twitter
29 X users
facebook
1 Facebook page

Citations

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132 Dimensions

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180 Mendeley
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1 CiteULike
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Title
Are heritability and selection related to population size in nature? Meta‐analysis and conservation implications
Published in
Evolutionary Applications, April 2016
DOI 10.1111/eva.12375
Pubmed ID
Authors

Jacquelyn L. A. Wood, Matthew C. Yates, Dylan J. Fraser

Abstract

It is widely thought that small populations should have less additive genetic variance and respond less efficiently to natural selection than large populations. Across taxa, we meta-analytically quantified the relationship between adult census population size (N) and additive genetic variance (proxy: h (2)) and found no reduction in h (2) with decreasing N; surveyed populations ranged from four to one million individuals (1735 h (2) estimates, 146 populations, 83 species). In terms of adaptation, ecological conditions may systematically differ between populations of varying N; the magnitude of selection these populations experience may therefore also differ. We thus also meta-analytically tested whether selection changes with N and found little evidence for systematic differences in the strength, direction or form of selection with N across different trait types and taxa (7344 selection estimates, 172 populations, 80 species). Collectively, our results (i) indirectly suggest that genetic drift neither overwhelms selection more in small than in large natural populations, nor weakens adaptive potential/h (2) in small populations, and (ii) imply that natural populations of varying sizes experience a variety of environmental conditions, without consistently differing habitat quality at small N. However, we caution that the data are currently insufficient to determine whether some small populations may retain adaptive potential definitively. Further study is required into (i) selection and genetic variation in completely isolated populations of known N, under-represented taxonomic groups, and nongeneralist species, (ii) adaptive potential using multidimensional approaches and (iii) the nature of selective pressures for specific traits.

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X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 29 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 180 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Canada 3 2%
New Zealand 1 <1%
United States 1 <1%
Switzerland 1 <1%
Unknown 174 97%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 38 21%
Researcher 35 19%
Student > Master 28 16%
Student > Bachelor 15 8%
Student > Doctoral Student 10 6%
Other 23 13%
Unknown 31 17%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 105 58%
Environmental Science 18 10%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 13 7%
Medicine and Dentistry 4 2%
Psychology 2 1%
Other 4 2%
Unknown 34 19%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 45. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 March 2023.
All research outputs
#936,063
of 25,530,891 outputs
Outputs from Evolutionary Applications
#90
of 1,588 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#16,381
of 315,479 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Evolutionary Applications
#4
of 24 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,530,891 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,588 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.6. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 315,479 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 24 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its contemporaries.