Inferring past demographic changes at different spatial scales in Northwest Patagonia and central-south Chile: Comparing absolute dates with molecular data

Abstract

In this study, we compare the patterns of demographic changes in populations from Northwest Patagonia and central-south Chile throughout the Late Pleistocene–Holocene obtained from absolute dates with those resulting from molecular genealogies. We have found that temporal distributions of frequencies of absolute dates constitute a more sensitive demographic indicator than molecular data to make inferences at small spatial scales in the region. Moreover, even though the latter has proven to be very informative about old demographic processes, it represents a less reliable source of information for more recent ones.