Figure 1
Simulated rates of paternity assignment in the European bison for varying numbers of microsatellite loci. (a) 1–5 sets of 17 loci with mean expected heterozygosity, HE=0.31. (b) 2–10 sets of the four most polymorphic loci with mean HE=0.57. In each panel, the assignment rate is shown separately for assignment of fathers alone and fathers given known mothers at a confidence level of 95%. As only 50% of candidate fathers were sampled in this population, the theoretical maximum assignment rate is 50%. This is shown as a dashed line. In practice, false-positive paternities in cases in which the true father is not sampled allow the assignment rate to go above 50%. As yet, more loci are added until the assignment rate settles at 50%.
