Reliability assessment of null allele detection: inconsistencies between and within different methods.

Microsatellite loci are widely used in population genetic studies, but the presence of null alleles may lead to biased results. Here, we assessed five methods that indirectly detect null alleles and found large inconsistencies among them. Our analysis was based on 20 microsatellite loci genotyped in a natural population of Microtus oeconomus sampled during 8 years, together with 1200 simulated populations without null alleles, but experiencing bottlenecks of varying duration and intensity, and 120 simulated populations with known null alleles.

Cytochrome gene () sequence diversity in a population from Bialowieza Primeval Forest.

Based on published information about the glacial, postglacial, and recent distribution of the root vole, , we hypothesized that a population inhabiting the pristine wetland in eastern Poland (Bialowieza Primeval Forest) might comprise a high diversity of haplotypes. The support for this hypothesis was provided by an analysis of partial gene sequences from 149 voles sampled within a two-hectare plot during a nine-year study. In this population, we identified eight haplotypes (PLB1-PLB8), four of which were new to the root vole.

Temporally stable genetic variability and dynamic kinship structure in a fluctuating population of the root vole Microtus oeconomus.

Genetic variability, kin structure and demography of a population are mutually dependent. Population genetic theory predicts that under demographically stable conditions, neutral genetic variability reaches equilibrium between gene flow and drift. However, density fluctuations and non-random mating, resulting e.

The first born, their dispersal, and vole cycles.

On the basis of some empirical data and the existing theory of vole cycles, a new hypothesis is proposed. It explains cyclicity as an effect of obligatory dispersal of the first seasonal cohort of young (Y1) from their natal (optimal) habitats into vacant (suboptimal) habitats. This behaviour could evolve, because it increases contribution of genetic lineages with dispersing Y1, to subsequent generation.