Does Migration Increase Heterozygosity?
Immigration Benefits Populations Primarily by Increasing Heterozygosity and Allelic Richness, Both of Which Are Critical for Population Persistence [4,5]...
Immigration benefits populations primarily by increasing heterozygosity and allelic richness, both of which are critical for population persistence [4,5]. ... In small populations, heterozygosity is lost at a slower rate and regained more quickly than allelic richness [2,10,11].
What increases heterozygosity?
Remember that gene diversity is composed of two elements; 1) the number of alleles and 2) the abundance (or evenness) of the alleles. Both of these would increase the expected heterozygosity.
How does migration affect allele frequencies?
In the case of migration, the greater the difference in allele frequencies between the resident and the migrant individuals, and the larger the number of migrants, the greater the effect the migrants have in changing the genetic constitution of the resident population.
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