Fst Across Several Population

Question

[thjnant]

Hello,

Concerning Weir and Cockerham 1984 Fst, I can understand it when we set r = 2 which is a comparison between two populations. But what Fst actually gives us when r is more than 2. How can we interpret the results?

Thanks

Answer 1

[David W]

Fst is (basically) the among-population variance in allele frequencies. Populations that are highly structured with regard to the populations you set will, all else being equal, produce high values for Fst. Holsinger and Weir provide a useful review of what Fst is.