Community genetics is a recently emerged field in biology that fuses elements of

community ecology In ecology, a community is a group or association of populations of two or more different species occupying the same geographical area at the same time, also known as a biocoenosis, biotic community, biological community, ecological communit ...

evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biolo ...

, and

molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, ...

and

quantitative genetics Quantitative genetics is the study of quantitative traits, which are phenotypes that vary continuously—such as height or mass—as opposed to phenotypes and gene-products that are Categorical variable, discretely identifiable—such as eye-col ...

. AntonovicsAntonovics, J. 1992. Toward community genetics. Pages 426-449 in R. S. Fritz and E. L. Simms, editors. Plant resistance to herbivores and pathogens: ecology, evolution, and genetics. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, USA. first articulated the vision for such a field, and Whitham et al.Whitham, T.G., J.K. Bailey, J.A. Schweitzer, S.M. Shuster, R.K. Bangert, C.J. LeRoy, E.V. Lonsdorf, G.J. Allan, S.P. DiFazio, B.M. Potts, D.G. Fischer, C.A. Gehring, R.L. Lindroth, J.C. Marks, S.C. Hart, G.M. Wimp, S.C. Wooley. 2006. A framework for community and ecosystem genetics: from genes to ecosystems. Nature Reviews Genetics 7:510-523. formalized its definition as "The study of the genetic interactions that occur between species and their abiotic environment in complex communities." The field aims to bridge the gaps in the study of

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

and

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

, within the multivariate community context in which ecological and evolutionary features are embedded. The documentary movie ''A Thousand Invisible Cords'' provides an introduction to the field and its implications. To date, the primary focus of most community genetics studies has been on the influences of genetic variation in plants on

foliar A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, fl ...

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

communities. In a wide variety of ecosystems, different plant genotypes often support different compositions of associated foliar arthropod communities.Whitham, T.G., C.A. Gehring, L.J. Lamit, T. Wojtowicz, L.M. Evans, A.R. Keith, D.S. Smith. 2012. Community specificity: life and afterlife effects of genes. Trends in Plant Sciences 17:271-281. Such community

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology (physical form and structure), its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological propert ...

s have been observed in natural hybrid complexes,Wimp, G.M., S. Wooley, R.K. Bangert, W.P. Young, G.D. Martinsen, P. Keim, B. Rehill, R.L. Lindroth, T.G. Whitham. 2007. Plant genetics predicts intra-annual variation in

phytochemistry Phytochemistry is the study of phytochemicals, which are chemicals derived from plants. Phytochemists strive to describe the structures of the large number of secondary metabolites found in plants, the functions of these compounds in human and ...

and arthropod community structure. Molecular Ecology 16:5057-5069. among genotypes and sibling families within a single speciesMaddox, G.D., R.B. Root. 1987. Resistance to 16 diverse species of herbivorous insects within a population of goldenrod, Solidago altissima: Genetic variation and heritability. Oecologia 72:8-14.Johnson, M.T.J., A.A. Agrawal. 2005. Plant genotype and environment interact to shape a diverse arthropod community on evening primrose ("Oenothera biennis"). Ecology 86: 874-885.Keith, A.R., J.K. Bailey, T.G. Whitham. 2010. A genetic basis to community repeatability and stability. Ecology 91:3398-3406. and among different plant populations.Wise, M.J. 2007. Evolutionary ecology of resistance to herbivory: an investigation of potential genetic constraints in the multiple-herbivore community of Solanum carolinense. New Phytologist 175:773-784. To understand the broader impacts of differences among plant genotypes on biodiversity as a whole, researchers have begun to examine the response of other organisms, such as foliar

endophyte An endophyte is an endosymbiont, often a bacterium or fungus, that lives within a plant for at least part of its life cycle without causing apparent disease. Endophytes are ubiquitous and have been found in all species of plants studied to date; ...

s,Elamo, P., M.L. Helander, I. Saloniemi, S. Neuvonen. 1999. Birch family and environmental conditions affect endophytic fungi in leaves. Oecologia 118:151-156.

mycorrhiza A mycorrhiza (; , mycorrhiza, or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plant's rhizosphere, the plant root system and its surroundings. Mycorrhizae play ...

l fungi,Sthultz, C.M., T.G. Whitham, K. Kennedy, R. Deckert, C.A. Gehring. 2009. Genetically based susceptibility to herbivory influences the ectomycorrhizal fungal communities of a foundation tree species. New Phytologist 184:657-667. soil microbes,Schweitzer, J.A., J.K. Bailey, D.G. Fischer, C.J. Leroy, E.V. Lonsdorf, T.G. Whitham, S.C. Hart. 2008. Plant-soil-microorganism interactions: Heritable relationship between plant genotype and associated soil microorganisms. Ecology 89:773-781. litter-dwelling arthropods,Zytynska, S.E., M.F. Fay, D. Penny, R.F. Preziosi. 2011. Genetic variation in a tropical tree species influences the associated epiphytic plant and invertebrate communities in a complex forest ecosystem. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 366:1329–1336. herbaceous plantsLamit, L.J., T. Wojtowicz, Z. Kovacs, S.C. Wooley, M. Zinkgraf, T.G. Whitham, R.L. Lindroth, C.A. Gehring. 2011. Hybridization among foundation tree species influences the structure of associated understory plant communities. Botany 89:165-174.Michalet, R., S. Xiao, B. Touzard, D.S. Smith, L.A. Cavieres, R.M. Callaway, T.G. Whitham. 2011. Phenotypic variation in nurse traits and community feedbacks define an alpine community. Ecology Letters 14:433-443. and

epiphyte An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

s. These effects are frequently examined with

foundation species In ecology, the foundation species are species that have a strong role in structuring a community. A foundation species can occupy any trophic level in a food web (i.e., they can be primary producers, herbivores or predators). The term was coine ...

Dayton PK 1972. Toward an understanding of community resilience and the potential effects of enrichments to the benthos at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. In Parker BC. Proceedings of the Colloquium on Conservation Problems Allen Press, Lawrence, Kansas. 81-96.Ellison, A.M., M.S. Bank, B.D. Clinton, E.A. Colburn, K. Elliott, C.R. Ford, D.R. Foster, B.D Kloeppel, J.D. Knoepp, G.M. Lovett, J. Mohan, D.A Orwig, N.L. Rodenhouse, W.V. Sobczak, K.A. Stinson, J.K. Stone, C.M. Swan, J. Thompson, B. Von Holle, J.R. Webster. 2005. Loss of foundation species: consequences for the structure and dynamics of forested ecosystems. Frontiers In Ecology And The Environment 3:479-486. in temperate ecosystems, who structure ecosystems by modulating and stabilizing resources and ecosystem processes. The emphasis on foundation species allows researchers to focus on the likely most important players in a system without becoming overwhelmed by the complexity of all the genetically variable interactions occurring at the same time. However, unique effects of plant genotypes have also been found with non-foundation species, and can occur in tropical, boreal and alpine systems. The vision for the field of community genetics extends beyond documentation of different communities on different genotypes of a focal species. Other aspects of this field include *understanding how species interactions within a community are modulated by host genotype,Johnson, M.T. 2008. Bottom-up effects of plant genotype on aphids, ants and predators. Ecology 89:145-154.Smith, D.S., J.K. Bailey, S.M. Shuster, T.G. Whitham. 2011. A geographic mosaic of trophic interactions and selection: trees, aphids and birds. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 24:422-429. *implications of host genotype on the fitness and evolution of community members,Evans, L.M., G.J. Allan, S.M. Shuster, S.A. Woolbright, T.G. Whitham. 2008. Tree hybridization and genotypic variation drive cryptic speciation of a specialist mite herbivore. Evolution 62:3027-3040. and *selection on hosts influencing associated communities.Lankau, R.A., S.Y. Strauss 2007. Mutual feedbacks maintain both genetic and species diversity in a plant community. Science 317:1561-1563.Johnson, M.T.J., M. Vellend, J.R. Stinchcombe. 2009. Evolution in plant populations as a driver of ecological changes in arthropod communities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 364:1593-1605. Future progress in the field of community genetics is strongly dependent on breakthroughs in modern molecular DNA-based technology, such as genome sequencing.Whitham, T.G., S.P. DiFazio, J.A. Schweitzer, S.M. Shuster, G.J. Allan, J.K. Bailey, S.A. Woolbright. 2008. Extending genomics to natural communities and ecosystems. Science 320:492-495. The application of a community genetics approach to understanding how species and communities of interacting organisms are reacting to rapid changes in climate, as well as informing restoration, are two important applied aspects of community genetics.

References

{{reflist Community ecology Evolutionary biology Molecular genetics