Long-term Response: 2. Finite Population Size and Mutation
Keyword(s):
In a finite population, drift is often more important than selection in removing any initial additive variance. This chapter examines the joint impact of selection, drift, and mutation on the long-term response in a quantitative trait. One key result is the remarkable finding of Robertson that the expected long-term response from any initial additive variance is bounded above by the product of twice the effective population size times the initial response. This result implies that the optimal selection intensity for long-term response it to save half of the population in each generation.