BOOTSTRAP TESTS FOR SPECIFIC HYPOTHESES AT SINGLE-LOCUS INBREEDING COEFFICIENTS

Deviations of genotype distribution from Hardy-Weinberg expectations w ithin a (sub)population can give valuable insight into the population structure, and can be quantified by means of F-is values. Specific bio logical and/or genetical hypotheses regarding F-is require particular statistical procedures to be able to perform the test with high power. The bootstrap offers a convenient way to test against a broad range o f alternative hypotheses. It enables: a) comparison of an observed F-i s with any expected value between -1 and 1, and b) comparison of two o r more observed F-is values. However, it fails under numerous situatio ns, and great caution should be taken before applying the bootstrap to estimate confidence intervals of F-is. We discuss under which conditi ons the bootstrap gives reliable results.