Ardea
Official journal of the Netherlands Ornithologists' Union

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van Noordwijk A.J. (1987) On the implications of genetic variation for ecological research. ARDEA 75 (1): 13-19
In the past decade genetic variation has been demonstrated in many ecologically important traits in natural populations of birds. The implications for ecological research where genetics is not explicitly part of the tested hypotheses are discussed. There are four themes around which the consequences can be ordered: 1. The time scale at which micro-evolutionary changes can take place. This rate can be high enough to be observed during a population study that spans a few generations. 2. Observations made on relatives can not be treated as being independent in as far as the variation in the investigated trait has a genetic basis. This leads to an over-estimation of sample size and thereby to too rapid rejection of the null-hypotheses. 3. The higher homozygosity in matings of relatives may lead to qualitatively different phenotypes', especially in reproductive parameters. 4. Two types of genotype-environment interactions are discussed: reaction norms and the hiding of genetic variation under certain conditions. Our understanding of these interactions is only preliminary, but it seems important to distinguish between these sorts of variation.' In many field experiments and analyses it is possible to separate the genetic component and thereby to obtain clearer results. In the discussion these four themes are brought together and the links between them are indicated.


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