Community specificity: life and afterlife effects of genes

Community-level genetic specificity results when individual genotypes or populations of the same species support different communities. Our review of the literature shows that genetic specificity exhibits both life and afterlife effects; it is a widespread phenomenon occurring in diverse taxonomic g...

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Veröffentlicht in:Trends in plant science 2012-05, Vol.17 (5), p.271-281
Hauptverfasser: Whitham, Thomas G., Gehring, Catherine A., Lamit, Louis J., Wojtowicz, Todd, Evans, Luke M., Keith, Arthur R., Smith, David Solance
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Community-level genetic specificity results when individual genotypes or populations of the same species support different communities. Our review of the literature shows that genetic specificity exhibits both life and afterlife effects; it is a widespread phenomenon occurring in diverse taxonomic groups, aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems, and species-poor to species-rich systems. Such specificity affects species interactions, evolution, ecosystem processes and leads to community feedbacks on the performance of the individuals expressing the traits. Thus, genetic specificity by communities appears to be fundamentally important, suggesting that specificity is a major driver of the biodiversity and stability of the world's ecosystems.
ISSN:1360-1385
1878-4372
DOI:10.1016/j.tplants.2012.01.005