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Limits to genetic bottlenecks and founder events imposed by the Allee effect

  • Population Ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

The Allee effect can result in a negative population growth rate at low population density. Consequently, populations below a minimum (critical) density are unlikely to persist. A lower limit on population size should constrain the loss of genetic variability due to genetic drift during population bottlenecks or founder events. We explored this phenomenon by modeling changes in genetic variability and differentiation during simulated bottlenecks of the alpine copepod, Hesperodiaptomus shoshone. Lake surveys, whole-lake re-introduction experiments and model calculations all indicate that H. shoshone should be unlikely to establish or persist at densities less than 0.5–5 individuals m−3. We estimated the corresponding range in minimum effective population size using the distribution of habitat (lake) sizes in nature and used these values to model the expected heterozygosity, allelic richness and genetic differentiation resulting from population bottlenecks. We found that during realistic bottlenecks or founder events, >90% of H. shoshone populations in the Sierra Nevada may be resistant to significant changes in heterozygosity or genetic distance, and 70–75% of populations may lose <10% of allelic richness. We suggest that ecological constraints on minimum population size be considered when using genetic markers to estimate historical population dynamics.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to A. Kramer, and National Science Foundation grants DEB-9629473 and DEB-0075509. We thank R. Knapp for data on H. shoshone habitat sizes in the Sierra Nevada and assistance with fieldwork, P. Soranno for data on lake size for North American lakes, S. Peacor for advice on the allelic richness simulation model, and R. Knapp, K. Scribner, G. Mittelbach, C. Osenberg and four anonymous reviewers for valuable suggestions on earlier versions of the manuscript.

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  1. Andrew Kramer

    Present address: Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, 30602, Athens, GA, Greece

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Andrew Kramer & Orlando Sarnelle

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  1. Andrew Kramer
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  2. Orlando Sarnelle
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Correspondence to Andrew Kramer.

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Communicated by Craig Osenberg.

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Kramer, A., Sarnelle, O. Limits to genetic bottlenecks and founder events imposed by the Allee effect. Oecologia 157, 561–569 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1105-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1105-z

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