Molecular ecology: roots and branches

This chapter looks into molecular ecology. First, it introduces ecology as the scientific study of organisms' distribution and abundance before defining molecular ecology as the application of molecular genetic methods. The aim is to address ecological questions. The chapter explains the theory of evolution by natural selection which has been used as a vital framework in modern biology. It considers neutral theory and notes random genetic drift. Both of these discoveries increased the understanding of evolution. They look into the levels of polymorphism found in nature. The chapter illustrates the history and progress of molecular ecology and cites its links to technology, species identification, and genetic markers. It mentions how ecological genomics is exploring the workings of genetics in wild populations exposed to environmental variation.