Discussion
This work sheds new light on the precise influence of PC on the genotypic and genetic composition of natural populations, allowing the identification of the most accurate parameters that should theoretically be used to estimate c under a wide range of conditions. Nevertheless, the results also clearly demonstrate that the most useful parameters, namely, the R and Pareto β describing genotypic diversity, are seriously affected by sampling density. This vulnerability raises questions about our ability to detect clonality by sampling large populations only once and serious doubts as to the possibility of quantitatively inferring rates of clonality in large populations based on genotypic diversity alone.
These findings stimulate new interpretations of some published data and perspectives on improvements that are required to further understand the dynamics and evolution of the broad range of species exhibiting PC.