The populations of many species of animals and plants are age-structured, i.e. the individuals present at any one time were born over a range of different times, and their fertility and survival depend on age. The properties of such populations are important for interpreting experiments and observations on the genetics of populations for animal and plant breeding, and for understanding the evolution of features of life-histories such as senescence and time of reproduction. In this new edition Brian Charlesworth provides a comprehensive review of the basic mathematical theory of the demography and genetics of age-structured populations. The mathematical level of the book is such that it will be accessible to anyone with a knowledge of basic calculus and linear algebra.

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The effective size of a population, N(e), determines the rate of change in the composition of a population caused by genetic drift, which is the random sampling of genetic variants in a finite population. N(e) is crucial in determining the level of variability in a population, and the effectiveness of selection relative to drift. This article reviews the properties of N(e) in a variety of different situations of biological interest, and the factors that influence it. In particular, the action of selection means that N(e) varies across the genome, and advances in genomic techniques are giving new insights into how selection shapes N(e).

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