Abstract
INVESTIGATION of the relationships between population size and gene frequency in laboratory studies of Drosophila have been limited to small breeding groups (usually of less than one thousand individuals) because of the difficulty of estimating population number. Direct counts can be made when units of the types described by Reed and Reed1 and Buzzati-Traverso2 are in use, but the environment in these systems lacks constancy. The former has been modified3,4 for work on larger populations; but with this design there remains the possibility that migration between sections of the cage might be somewhat restricted. For that reason it was felt that the following technique might be of interest to other workers in this field.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Reed, S. C., and Reed, E. W., Genetics, 33, 121 (1949).
Buzzati-Traverso, A. A., Heredity, 9, 153 (1955).
Da Cunha, A. B., Evolution, 3, 239 (1949).
Erk, F. C., Genetics, 40, 331 (1955).
Ludwin, I., Evolution, 5, 231 (1951).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
THOMSON, J. A New Technique for the Study of Laboratory Populations of Drosophila . Nature 180, 1495 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1038/1801495a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1801495a0
This article is cited by
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.