A population is composed of an infinite number of colonies situated at the integer points of a single co-ordinate axis. Each colony develops according to a simple birth and death process and migration is allowed between nearest neighbours only. Exact expressions are derived for both the asymptotic velocity of propagation and the shape of the wave profile as the population spreads along the axis, and it is shown that they are identical with the saddle point approximations developed by Daniels.

Let I(x, u) be the probability that two genes found a vector distance x apart are the same type in an infinite-allele selectively-neutral migration model with mutation rate u. The creatures involved inhabit an infinite of colonies, are diploid and are held at N per colony. Set in one dimension and in higher dimensions, where σ2 is the covariance matrix of the migration law (which is assumed to have finite fifth moments). Then in one dimension, in two dimensions, and in three dimensions uniformly for Here C0 is a constant depending on the migration law, K0(y) is the Bessel function of the second kind of order zero, and are the eigenvalues of σ2. For symmetric nearest-neighbor migrations, in one dimension and log mi in two. For is known in one dimension and C0 does not appear. In two dimensions, These results extend and make more precise earlier work of Malécot, Weiss and Kimura and Nagylaki.

A branching random field is considered as a model of either of two situations in genetics in which migration or dispersion plays a role. Specifically we consider the expected number of individuals NA in a (geographical) set A at time t, the covariance of NA and NB for two sets A, B, and the probability I(x, y, u) that two individuals found at locations x, y at time t are of the same genetic type if the population is subject to a selectively neutral mutation rate u. The last also leads to limit laws for the average degree of relationship of individuals in various types of branching random fields. We also find the equations that the mean and bivariate densities satisfy, and explicit formulas when the underlying migration process is Brownian motion.