Genomics: moving behavioural ecology beyond the phenotypic gambit

Genomics: moving behavioural ecology beyond the phenotypic gambit.

Researchers studying the adaptive significance of behaviour typically assume that genetic mechanisms will not inhibit evolutionary trajectories, an assumption commonly known as the 'phenotypic gambit'. Although the phenotypic gambit continues to be a useful heuristic for behavioural ecology, here we discuss how genomic methods provide new tools and conceptual approaches that are relevant to beh...

Special Issue: Kin Selection Genomics: moving behavioural ecology beyond the phenotypic gambit

Beyond the phenotypic gambit: molecular behavioural ecology and the evolution of genetic architecture.

Most studies of behaviour examine traits whose proximate causes include sensory input and neural decision-making, but conflict and collaboration in biological systems began long before brains or sensory systems evolved. Many behaviours result from non-neural mechanisms such as direct physical contact between recognition proteins or modifications of development that coincide with altered behavio...

The Ecology of Acidobacteria: Moving beyond Genes and Genomes

The phylum Acidobacteria is one of the most widespread and abundant on the planet, yet remarkably our knowledge of the role of these diverse organisms in the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems remains surprisingly rudimentary. This blatant knowledge gap stems to a large degree from the difficulties associated with the cultivation of these bacteria by classical means. Given the phylogenetic b...

Moving beyond de novo clustering in fungal community ecology.

High throughput sequencing (HTS) has rapidly become the de facto tool for characterizing microbial community structure in a wide variety of habitats (Caporaso et al., 2011; Peay et al., 2016; Truong et al., 2017). Accompanying the expanding use of HTS to quantify microbial diversity is the need to delineate species, the ecological unit traditionally used to compare the richness and composition ...