PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Graham Coop TI - Does linked selection explain the narrow range of genetic diversity across species? AID - 10.1101/042598 DP - 2016 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 042598 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/03/07/042598.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/03/07/042598.full AB - The relatively narrow range of genetic polymorphism levels across species has been a major source of debate since the inception of molecular population genetics. Recently Corbett-Detig et al found evidence that linked selection strongly constrains levels of polymorphism in species with large census sizes. Here I reexamine this claim and find weak support for this conclusion. While linked selection is an important determinant of polymorphism levels along the genome in many species, we currently lack compelling evidence that it is a major determinant of polymorphism levels among obligately sexual species.