19538
By Science News
Your article gives a simplistic and generally inaccurate account of the relationship between Fst [also called Wright’s F statistic] and race/subspecies/species. Fst reflects the relative amount of total genetic variation between populations. While there is bound to be a correlation between Fst and species status, Fst is not normally used to define species. An Fst can be lower between populations of North American grey wolves and coyotes, two different species, than between many populations of the same species, including humans, depending on which genetic loci are considered.
John Goodrum
Port Angeles, Wash.