Genetic neighbourhoods in plants with diverse systems of mating and different patterns of growth

Abstract

The neighbourhood model of Wright has become used widely to estimate the effects of locally restricted gene flow in plants. This model is extended to enable estimates of σ2, the parent to offspring dispersal variance, to be made in plants with a wide variety of sexual systems and with different patterns of vegetative growth. A method of partitioning this variance is given as a general model. The implications of restricted gene flow in natural populations are discussed and attention is drawn to some of the problems attendant upon attempts to measure neighbourhood size. © 1987, The Genetical Society of Great Britain.