Learn about effective population size in this lecture from the Sixth Bangalore School on Population Genetics and Evolution. Explore how this fundamental concept in population genetics affects evolutionary processes and genetic diversity within populations. Gain insights into methods for estimating effective population size and its implications for conservation biology and evolutionary studies. Delve into the factors that influence effective population size, such as population bottlenecks, inbreeding, and fluctuations in population size over time. Understand the relationship between effective population size and genetic drift, and how it impacts the rate of evolution and the maintenance of genetic variation in natural populations.