Male Drosophila grimshawi, a Hawaiian fruit fly, have a lekking mating system in

Question

Male Drosophila grimshawi, a Hawaiian fruit fly, have a lekking mating system involving both pheromones and a mating dance to attract females to mate with them. Male reproductive success is variable; some males mate with multiple females and some are not successful mating. In a population of 40 males and 40 females, if only 10 of those males mate, what is the effective population size vs. the census population size in that population?

If you could explain what formula you use for this and why, that would be greatly appreciated. I missed the class that the professor went over this.

Explanation / Answer

The effective population size (Ne) represents the number of individuals that can contribute genes
equally to the next generation and is usually smaller then the actual size of a population.The effective population size is usually less than the census population size (N).

The census population size (N) is the actual or total number of individuals present in a population.

Therefore, census population size (N) = 40+40=80

The effective population size (Ne)= 40+10 = 50 (as only 10 males can mate and can contribute their alleles to the next generation)

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