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Preface to the special issue: ecological and evolutionary genomics of populations in nature
Author(s) -
LEE CAROL EUNMI,
MITCHELLOLDS THOMAS
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2006.02945.x
Subject(s) - biology , adaptation (eye) , evolutionary ecology , genomics , evolutionary biology , population genomics , ecology , genetic algorithm , human evolutionary genetics , genome , genetics , gene , neuroscience , host (biology)
This Special Issue focuses on the application of genomic approaches for addressing central questions in ecology and evolutionary biology using populations in nature. Most of these studies focus on non-model systems, as many key questions in ecology and evolutionary biology cannot be addressed solely using model systems (Gracey & Cossins 2003). While model systems have been instrumental in yielding fundamental insights into genetic and evolutionary mechanisms, they represent only a tiny fraction of organismal diversity. Model organisms tend to have short generation times, cosmopolitan geographic distributions, and generalist strategies under diverse environmental conditions (such as the laboratory). As such, studies using model systems tend to exclude locally adapted species and rare endemics, parasites and symbionts, and species with complex life histories or long generation times. While applying genomic approaches to non-model