Abstract
Nei’s G ST is widely used as a measure of population subdivision, especially now that molecular data are abundant. The standard assumption is that G ST measures the degree of subdivision independent of allele frequencies. In this article, I show that this is indeed true, provided there is no selection or mutation and that migration, splitting, and fusion are independent of allele frequencies. G ST has other desirable properties in addition: It is determined mainly by the absolute number of migrants per generation; it approaches equilibrium rapidly; and it can be used, with molecular markers, to assess the degree of altruism that would be expected with the current population structure.
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Crow, J.F. (2004). Assessing Population Subdivision. In: Wasser, S.P. (eds) Evolutionary Theory and Processes: Modern Horizons. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0443-4_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0443-4_3
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