Ecological consequences of genetic diversity

Abstract

Understanding the ecological consequences of biodiversity is a fundamental challenge. Research on a key component of biodiversity, genetic diversity, has traditionally focused on its importance in evolutionary processes, but classical studies in evolutionary biology, agronomy and conservation biology indicate that genetic diversity might also have important ecological effects. Our review of the literature reveals significant effects of genetic diversity on ecological processes such as primary productivity, population recovery from disturbance, interspecific competition, community structure, and fluxes of energy and nutrients. Thus, genetic diversity can have important ecological consequences at the population, community and ecosystem levels, and in some cases the effects are comparable in magnitude to the effects of species diversity. However, it is not clear how widely these results apply in nature, as studies to date have been biased towards manipulations of plant clonal diversity, and little is known about the relative importance of genetic diversity vs. other factors that influence ecological processes of interest. Future studies should focus not only on documenting the presence of genetic diversity effects but also on identifying underlying mechanisms and predicting when such effects are likely to occur in nature.

Discovering variation of secondary metabolite diversity and its relationship with disease resistance inCornus floridaL.

“…2017). It has been demonstrated that even small differences in genetic diversity (such as single amino acid substitutions) can yield large differences in chemical profiles (Kampranis et al., 2007), and several studies have found that higher intraspecific genetic diversity reduces herbivory and disease in plant populations (Hughes, Inouye, Johnson, Underwood, & Vellend, 2008). Moreover, emerging evidence has demonstrated how variation in intraspecific chemodiversity influences community diversity among different trophic interactions (Glassmire et al., 2016; Richards et al., 2015).…”

Understanding and monitoring the consequences of human impacts on intraspecific variation

“…For example, increasing genetic and phenotypic variations within a species typically increases species diversity and abundance and primary productivity, promotes positive plant–soil interactions (reviewed in Crutsinger, 2016), and stabilizes ecosystem functions (Genung et al., 2010; Prieto et al., 2015). Although species and individual interactions due to variance in individuals are less predictable, these effects appear to be strongest when the species in question plays an important role in the ecosystem (Hendry, 2016; Hughes, Inouye, Johnson, Underwood, & Vellend, 2008); that is, it is a “keystone species,” “foundation species,” “niche constructor,” “strong interactor,” and so on.…”

The Future of Baltic Sea Populations: Local Extinction or Evolutionary Rescue?

“…Additional effects of lost genetic variation is the sublethal effects on ecosystem function that have been documented most comprehensively in cultured plants (Hughes et al 2008) but is observed also in populations of marine species. For example, decreased genetic variation in populations of barnacle larvae had a negative impact on larval recruitment (Gamfeldt et al 2005).…”