Estimating genetic parameters in natural populations using the ‘animal model’

Abstract

Estimating the genetic basis of quantitative traits can be tricky for wild populations in natural environ- ments, as environmental variation frequently obscures the underlying evolutionary patterns. I review the recent application of restricted maximum-likelihood 'animal models' to multigenerational data from natu- ral populations, and show how the estimation of variance components and prediction of breeding values using these methods offer a powerful means of tackling the potentially confounding effects of environmen- tal variation, as well as generating a wealth of new areas of investigation.