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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Modeling the Size Spectrum for Macroinvertebrates and Fishes in Stream Ecosystems
Published on: July 30, 2019
Genome size is negatively correlated with effective population size in ray-finned fish
1School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 310 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. soojin.yi@biology.gatech.edu
Abstract:
A recent theory suggesting that genome size and complexity can increase as a passive consequence of small effective population size has generated much controversy. In this article, we demonstrate that freshwater fish species, which have smaller effective population sizes than marine fish species, have larger genomes. We show that genome size is negatively correlated with genetic variability, independent of phylogeny, body size and generation time. Genome duplication is also observed predominantly in freshwater fish. These results suggest that the raw materials of complexity originate under conditions of reduced selection efficiency.
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