Enhancing the retrievability of population genetic survey data? An assessment of animal mitochondrial DNA studies

Surveys of genetic variation in natural populations represent a valuable an d often irreplaceable resource. It may be desirable to reanalyze data as ne w methods are developed for comparisons with other populations or for compa risons with the same populations at different times. We evaluated existing mechanisms of data preservation in a survey of 627 published surveys of mit ochondrial DNA variation in animal and found that over half of the datasets (56%) contained insufficient information for reanalysis. In many cases, pu blication of complete data would not have added excessively to the length o f the publication. Because at present, publications represent the main arch ive of population genetic data, we offer recommendations for how the essent ial data from mtDNA surveys can be presented in a form that is complete and concise.