SPAms: A user-friendly software to simulate population genetics data under complex demographic models

Mol Ecol Resour. 2009 May;9(3):749-53. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02533.x. Epub 2009 Jan 22.

Abstract

Patterns of genetic diversity can be used to reconstruct populations demographic history. Thus, it is crucial to understand the statistical properties of data sets generated under different scenarios. SPAms is a graphical application that allows the simulation of data under a set of demographic models of increasing complexity: (i) population size change (ii) admixture and (iii) population structure (n-island or stepping stone model). SPAms generates data under the infinite site and the stepwise mutation models and computes a set of commonly used statistics. It should thus be a useful tool for both research and teaching purposes.