---
_id: '3638'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: 'Any sample of genes traces back to a single common ancestor. Each gene also
    has other properties: its sequence, its geographic location and the phenotype
    and fitness of the organism that carries it. With sexual reproduction, different
    genes have different genealogies, which gives us much more information, but also
    greatly complicates population genetic analysis. We review the close relation
    between the distribution of genealogies and the classic theory of identity by
    descent in spatially structured populations, and develop a simple diffusion approximation
    to the distribution of coalescence times in a homogeneous two-dimensional habitat.
    This shows that when neighbourhood size is large (as in most populations) only
    a small fraction of pairs of genes are closely related, and only this fraction
    gives information about current rates of gene flow. The increase of spatial dispersion
    with lineage age is thus a poor estimator of gene flow. The bulk of the genealogy
    depends on the long-term history of the population; we discuss ways of inferring
    this history from the concordance between genealogies across loci.'
acknowledgement: This  work  was  supported  by  BBSRC  grant  GR/H/09928 and  by  a  Scottish  Office  studentship.  We  thank  A.
  W. F. Edwards and  S. Otto for their helpful comments.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Nicholas H
  full_name: Barton, Nicholas H
  id: 4880FE40-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Barton
  orcid: 0000-0002-8548-5240
- first_name: I
  full_name: Wilson, I
  last_name: Wilson
citation:
  ama: Barton NH, Wilson I. Genealogies and geography. <i>Philosophical Transactions
    of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences</i>. 1995;349(1327):49-59.
    doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1995.0090">10.1098/rstb.1995.0090</a>
  apa: Barton, N. H., &#38; Wilson, I. (1995). Genealogies and geography. <i>Philosophical
    Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences</i>.
    Royal Society, The. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1995.0090">https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1995.0090</a>
  chicago: Barton, Nicholas H, and I Wilson. “Genealogies and Geography.” <i>Philosophical
    Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences</i>.
    Royal Society, The, 1995. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1995.0090">https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1995.0090</a>.
  ieee: N. H. Barton and I. Wilson, “Genealogies and geography,” <i>Philosophical
    Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences</i>,
    vol. 349, no. 1327. Royal Society, The, pp. 49–59, 1995.
  ista: Barton NH, Wilson I. 1995. Genealogies and geography. Philosophical Transactions
    of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences. 349(1327), 49–59.
  mla: Barton, Nicholas H., and I. Wilson. “Genealogies and Geography.” <i>Philosophical
    Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences</i>,
    vol. 349, no. 1327, Royal Society, The, 1995, pp. 49–59, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1995.0090">10.1098/rstb.1995.0090</a>.
  short: N.H. Barton, I. Wilson, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of
    London. Series B, Biological Sciences 349 (1995) 49–59.
date_created: 2018-12-11T12:04:22Z
date_published: 1995-07-29T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2022-06-27T08:55:07Z
day: '29'
doi: 10.1098/rstb.1995.0090
extern: '1'
external_id:
  pmid:
  - '8748019'
intvolume: '       349'
issue: '1327'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- url: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.1995.0090
month: '07'
oa_version: None
page: 49 - 59
pmid: 1
publication: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B,
  Biological Sciences
publication_identifier:
  issn:
  - 0962-8436
publication_status: published
publisher: Royal Society, The
publist_id: '2745'
quality_controlled: '1'
status: public
title: Genealogies and geography
type: journal_article
user_id: ea97e931-d5af-11eb-85d4-e6957dddbf17
volume: 349
year: '1995'
...