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Science 25 April 2008:
Vol. 320. no. 5875, pp. 492 - 495
DOI: 10.1126/science.1153918
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Perspective

Extending Genomics to Natural Communities and Ecosystems

Thomas G. Whitham,*1,2 Stephen P. DiFazio,3 Jennifer A. Schweitzer,4 Stephen M. Shuster,1,2 Gery J. Allan,1,2 Joseph K. Bailey,4 Scott A. Woolbright1,2

An important step in the integration of ecology and genomics is the progression from molecular studies of relatively simple model systems to complex field systems. The recent availability of sequenced genomes from key plants is leading to a new understanding of the molecular drivers of community composition and ecosystem processes. As genome sequences accumulate for species that form intimate associations in nature, a detailed view may emerge as to how these associations cause changes among species at the nucleotide level. This advance could dramatically alter views about the structure and evolution of communities and ecosystems.

1 Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.
2 Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.
3 Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506–6057, USA.
4 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Thomas.Whitham{at}nau.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)