Natural Selection in Spatially Structured Populations

种群遗传学解释了我们在周围世界观察到的复杂的遗传变异模式，并展示了这些模式如何导致适应和多样性的进化。我们在几乎所有种群中看到的空间差异可以告诉我们物种的历史，以及选择是如何起作用的。现在尤其重要的是，我们需要分析最近获得的大量DNA序列数据。然而，到目前为止，在建立空间上连续的种群的一致模型方面存在着根本的困难。我们已经开发了这样一个模型，并展示了它如何解释我们在真实人口中看到的大规模变化。在本项目中，我们将扩展该模型以了解选择如何在空间环境中起作用。我们将提出的问题包括：如何最好地从基因数据中推断种群的历史？对整个群体的选择，而不是对个人的选择是否有效？有利的基因是如何在物种中传播的？

Population genetics explains the complex patterns of genetic variation that we observe in the world around us, and shows how these lead to the evolution of adaptation and diversity. The spatial variation that we see in almost all populations can tell us about the history of the species, and about how selection has acted. It is especially important now that we need to analyse the mass of DNA sequence data that has recently become available. However, until now there have been fundamental difficulties in formulating a consistent model of spatially continuous populations. We have developed just such a model, and shown how it can account for the large-scale changes that we see in real populations. In this project, we will extend the model to understand how selection acts in a spatial context. Amongst the questions we will ask are: How best to infer the history of a population from genetic data? Can selection on whole populations, rather than on individuals be effective? How do favourable genes spread through a species?