2001: Genetic consequences of polygyny and social structure in an Indian fruit bat, Cynopterus sphinx. I. Inbreeding, outbreeding, and population subdivision

Population subdivision plays a potentially important role in processes of both adaptive and nonadaptive evolu-tionary change. The partitioning of genetic variance within and among different hierarchical levels of population structure influences the genetically effective size of the to-tal population (Ne) and the extent to which different com-ponents of genetic variance are made available to selection (Barton and Whitlock 1997; Wade and Goodnight 1998; Nunney 1999). In populations that are subdivided into so-cially defined breeding units, the evolution of cooperative and altruistic behaviors is of particular interest. Theory in-dicates that some form of subdivision is required for the initial spread and maintenance of such traits (Uyenoyam