Genetic effect of stabilizing selection in an isolated population of saiga (Saiga tatarica l. )

Stabilizing selection is currently acting on an isolated population of saiga, lowering its within-population variability. Over a period of 7 years (during density depression) we observed a decline in frequencies of all rare alleles at the Tf and Amy-2 loci. In 1986 none of these alleles were present, though their overall frequency at the start of the observation period was approximately 0.2. The level of mean heterozygosity dropped accordingly.