A Relationship of Genetic Variation within and Among Populations: An Extension of the Kluge-Kerfoot Phenomenon

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Abstract
A positive correlation between intrapopulation variation and among population diversity was demonstrated for morphometric characters (the Kluge-Kerfoot phenomenon). This study extends the relationship to allozyme variation. Four sets of statistics are utilized to partition genetic variation into within and among population components of diversity and the strength of association between these components is assessed by rank order correlation. Of the 7 spp. [Drosophila tropicalis, D. equinoxalis, D. willistoni, Fundulus heteroclitus, Homo sapiens, Uta stansburiana and Thomomys talpoides] tested, all but 1 (F. heteroclitus) demonstrate significant, positive correlation coefficients for all 4 of the diversity measures. Although both selective and stochastic mechanisms may generate such a relationship, it appears that stochastic forces do not totally account for the correlations seen in the data sets analyzed here.