Ecological Genetics

Ecology is the study of the relationships between organisms and their environments, whereas ecological genetics focuses more specifically on the genetics of ecologically important traits, i.e., traits that influence ecological relationships. At its inception, ecological genetics focused particularly on traits that influence fitness, such as those that affect survival and reproduction. This focus has been maintained, although ecological genetics now also investigates the ecological and evolutionary processes that influence patterns of genetic variation in natural populations. Therefore, it can also be considered a study of genetic processes associated with microevolutionary change. Although both Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace brought together ecological and genetic concepts in the nineteenth century, the term “ecological genetics” was first used by E. B. Ford in his groundbreaking book Ecological Genetics (Ford 1964, cited under General Overviews: Textbooks). The field has evolved considerably since that time and now overlaps substantially with molecular ecology, a closely related field that uses molecular genetic tools to study questions in ecology. The only real difference between molecular ecology and ecological genetics is that the latter is not limited to studies based on molecular genetics. Instead, the term “ecological genetics” can refer to any study of the genetics of natural populations, whether they are based on molecular genetics, population genetics, or quantitative genetics. However, molecular genetic techniques are increasingly accessible and increasingly informative, and they often provide a relatively fast and cost-effective way to get data. As a result, the majority of ecological genetic studies now incorporate a combination of field and molecular genetic data, and the functional line between ecological genetics and molecular ecology is increasingly blurred.