I’m not sure what you mean. While they might come from common origins there are predictable rates of mutation in genes over time, and we can use them to track populations. So by comparing which mutations are present where surely you can get a rough idea of what percentage of the population was reproducing?
I’m not sure what you mean. While they might come from common origins there are predictable rates of mutation in genes over time, and we can use them to track populations. So by comparing which mutations are present where surely you can get a rough idea of what percentage of the population was reproducing?
Edit: Gwern’s post above gives a better answer.