Genotypic diversity: estimation and prediction in samples

We show that a commonly used statistic of genotypic diversity can be used to reflect one form of deviation from panmixia, viz. clonal reproduction, by comparing observed and predicted sample statistics. The characteristics of the statistic, in particular its relationship with population genotypic diversity, are formalised and a method of predicting the genotypic diversity of a sample drawn from a panmictic population using allelic frequencies and sample size is developed. The sensitivity of some possible tests of significance of the deviation from panmictic expectations is examined using computer simulations. Goodness-of-fit tests are robust but produce an unacceptably high level of type II error. With means and variances calculated either from Monte Carlo simulations or from distributional and series approximations, t-tests perform better than goodness-of-fit tests. Under simulation, both forms of t-test exhibit acceptable rates of type I error. Rates of type II are usually large when allele frequencies are severely skewed although the latter test performs the better in those conditions.