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 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.
Department of Biological Sciences and Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA. Thomas.Whitham@nau.edu
Thomas G
TG
Whitham
Catherine A
CA
Gehring
Louis J
LJ
Lamit
Todd
T
Wojtowicz
Luke M
LM
Evans
Arthur R
AR
Keith
David Solance
DS
Smith
D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology; D005075:Biological Evolution; D017753:Ecosystem; D005838:Genotype; D060434:Herbivory / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D008954:Models, Biological; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000469:parasitology*; D013045:Species Specificity