SALMONNb: a program for computing cohort-specific effective population sizes (Nb) in Pacific salmon and other semelparous species using the temporal method

Authors

• Robin Waples, NOAAFollow
• Michele Masuda, Alaska Fisheries Science CenterFollow
• Jerome Pella, Alaska Fisheries Science Center

Date of this Version

2007

Citation

Molecular Ecology Notes (2007) 7 , 21–24; doi: 10.1111/j.1471-8286.2006.01567.x

Abstract

We describe a new method and a computer program _SALMONNb to calculate the effective number of breeders (N_b) per year in semelparous species with variable age at maturity. The existing temporal method for the ‘salmon’ life history produces an estimate of the harmonic mean N_b in the two sampled years. _SALMONNb reads genotypic data in standard formats and computes yearly N_b values by combining information from pairwise comparisons of samples taken in 3 or more years. Simulations show that the new method produces unbiased estimates of yearly N_b, and precision is inversely proportional to true effective size.