POPULATION-GENETICS MEETS BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY

Populations are often composed of more than just randomly mating subpo puations - many organisms form social groups with distinct patterns of mating and dispersal. Such patterns have received much attention in b ehavioral ecology, yet theories of population genetics rarely take soc ial structures into account, Consequently, population geneticists ofte n report high levels of apparent inbreeding and concomitantly low effe ctive sizes, even for species that avoid mating between close kin. Rec ently, a view of gene dynamics has been introduced that takes dispersa l and social structure into account. Accounting for social structure i n population genetics leads to a different perspective on how genetic variation is partitioned and the rate at which genic diversity is lost in natural populations - a view that is more consistent with observed behaviors far the minimization of inbreeding.