Genes to ecosystems: exploring the frontiers of ecology with one of the smallest biological units

Abstract

Genes and their expression levels in individual species can structure whole communities and affect ecosystem processes. Although much has been written about community and ecosystem phenotypes with a few model systems, such as poplar and goldenrod, here we explore the potential application of a community genetics approach with systems involving invasive species, climate change and pollution. We argue that community genetics can reveal patterns and processes that otherwise might remain undetected. To further facilitate the community genetics or genes-to-ecosystem concept, we propose four community genetics postulates that allow for the conclusion of a causal relationship between the gene and its effect on the ecosystem. Although most current studies do not satisfy these criteria completely, several come close and, in so doing, begin to provide a genetic-based understanding of communities and ecosystems, as well as a sound basis for conservation and management practices.

Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics in a Three-Species Food Web with Intraguild Predation

“…One approach to this challenge is to bring the complexity of nature into more controlled environments, such as mesocosms or field enclosures. But to date, published experiments have all measured effects at a single point in time (Bassar et al, 2010;De Meester et al, 2011;Van Doorslaer et al, 2009), rather than the ongoing reciprocal effects on temporal dynamics that are a defining feature of eco-evolutionary dynamics (Fussmann et al, 2007;Post and Palkovacs, 2009;Wymore et al, 2011).…”

“…evo links and the evo ! eco links (and in rare cases both) have been documented in a variety of systems including laboratory microcosms (Becks et al, 2010;Hiltunen et al, 2014;Yoshida et al, 2003Yoshida et al, , 2007; mesocosms and enclosures (Agrawal et al, 2013;Bassar et al, 2010;Harmon et al, 2009;Wymore et al, 2011); and field studies of Darwin's finches (Grant and Grant, 2002), fence lizards (Sinervo et al, 2000), freshwater copepods (Ellner et al, 1999;Hairston et al, 1996), Soay sheep (Pelletier et al, 2007) and the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Hanski, 2011). In some cases, the system remains dynamic because of variability in the external environment (e.g.…”

Oak canopy arthropod communities: which factors shape its structure?

“…In general, its ecological consequences at the population level have been well studied (i.e., greater fitness of the population and lower risk of extinction, Vellend and Geber 2005). However, the role of genetic diversity in the organization and dynamics of communities is not yet clear (Johnson and Stinchcombe 2007;Hersch-Green et al 2011;Wymore et al 2011). It has been proposed that for genetic diversity to have a significant impact on a community, the latter must be dominated by one or a few foundation species (Bangert and Whitham 2007;Hughes et al 2008).…”

Conflicting selection from fire and seed predation drives fine-scaled phenotypic variation in a widespread North American conifer

“…When heritable traits in foundation species have important community and ecosystem effects, ecological drivers that exert natural selection on these traits can propagate to largescale patterns in community and ecosystem function, resulting in landscape heterogeneity driven by small-scale ecological variation (1,3). Although there is a clear conceptual link between selection acting on individuals and landscape-scale patterns, making mechanistic connections across these very different scales has proven challenging (refs.…”