Introduction to Theme “Genomics in Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics”

Abstract

The relationship between genomics and the core disciplines of ecology, evolution, and systematics is rapidly developing, computationally intensive, and changing the ways that our science asks and answers its most fundamental questions. As the six papers under this theme in this volume of AREES demonstrate, comparative and population genomics stand to fundamentally change how we study the nature of adaptation, the tempo and mode of evolution, and the history of life on Earth. Genomics is enabling our understanding of questions ranging from human historical demography to conservation biology of poorly known plants and animals, enhancing the role of organismal biology across basic and applied science.