New publication from Schielzeth et al. in American Journal of Botany: Community genomics: a community-wide perspective on within-species genetic diversity

It is increasingly being recognized that diversity within species constitutes another important component of biodiversity with consequences for ecosystem functioning (Raffard et al., 2019; Stange et al., 2021). Intraspecific genetic variation provides the raw material for adaptive evolution equipping populations to track environmental change. Intraspecific genetic diversity is thus closely linked to species persistence and community-level species diversity. The awareness of such eco-evolutionary feedbacks has risen in recent years, but a mechanistic understanding of how species-diversity and within-species genetic diversity interact has yet to be achieved. This paper shares a community-wide perspective on within-species genetic diversity.

KEYWORDS

biodiversity–ecosystem functioning, community factors, community genetics, genetic diversity, intra‐specific genetic diversity, population genomics, species diversity, species–genetic diversity correlations, standing genetic variation

FIGURE 1 Schematic overview of causal interactions between site factors, species diversity, intraspecific genetic diversity, and ecosystem functioning.
Solid arrows show possible causal relationships; dashed arrows show indirect effects with the potential to modify these relationships.

Reference:

Schielzeth, H., and Wolf, J. B. W.. 2021. Community genomics: a community-wide perspective on within-species genetic diversity. American Journal of Botany 108(11): 1– 4. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1796