The effects of environmental heterogeneity on the genetics of finite populations.

The effects on a panmictic population of a patchy environment and stochastic selection were investigated by computer simulation. The model allowed for different patterns and intensities of selection and various densities of distribution of the offspring. It delineated the effects of these variables on the correlation between the genotype and the environment, the level of heterozygosity, the change in gene frequency from generation to generation and the divergence between similar populations due to random effects.