Field Genetics

Cervus: New Features

Cervus 3.0.7

Version 3.0.7 of Cervus is able to process datasets containing many thousands of loci. This version also fixes a bug in identity analysis affecting Cervus 3.0.6.

Cervus 3.0.6

Version 3.0.6 includes several new features not available in Cervus 3.0.3:

Cervus can be run as a command line application via the standalone application CervusCL.exe. This version of the software is useful for large scale simulation studies or for automating analysis of data.

Cervus can calculate confidence tables for eliminating all sampled candidate parents based on the LOD score of the most likely candidate parent. These tables may be used for estimating rates of extra pair paternity and conspecific brood parasitism.

Cervus can process genotype files where each number or code represents a whole genotype rather than single alleles (genotype recoding). Biallelic markers such as SNPs may have genotypes recorded in this format.

Version 3.0.6 also corrects a large number of minor errors in the user interface and presentation of results.

Cervus 3.0.3

The first release of Cervus 3 offers many new features and enhancements over the earlier Cervus 2.0:

1) Revised likelihood equations that offer a substantial increase in power to assign parentage.

2) Parentage testing for parent pairs, when sexes of candidates are either known or unknown.

3) The option to choose Delta or LOD score as the statistic used to assess confidence levels.

4) Parentage testing allowing for selfing and other forms of inbreeding.

5) Completely rewritten code eliminating limits on numbers of alleles, loci and individuals and offering much faster processing.

6) An enhanced user interface with customisable menus and toolbars and the ability to view multiple results windows side by side.

7) Expanded output files allowing users to view the results of analyses in greater detail.

Further information

A description of the revised likelihood equations can be found in Kalinowski et al. (2007), and more information about of the capabilities of Cervus 3.0 can be found here.