02191nas a2200217 4500008004100000245005400041210005400095300001500149490000800164520158300172653002401755653002301779653002101802653001401823653000901837100001701846700001701863700001101880700001601891856006601907 2012 eng d00aMeasuring genetic diversity in ecological studies0 aMeasuring genetic diversity in ecological studies a1105 -11150 v2133 a
There is an increasing interest in how genetic diversity may correlate with and influence community and ecosystem properties. Genetic diversity can be defined in multiple ways, and currently lacking in ecology is a consensus on how to measure genetic diversity. Here, we examine two broad classes of genetic diversity: genotype-based and genome-based measures. Genotype-based measures, such as genotypic richness, are more commonly used in ecological studies, and often it is assumed that as genotypic diversity increases, genomic diversity (the number of genetic polymorphisms and/or genomic dissimilarity among individuals) also increases. However, this assumption is rarely assessed. We tested this assumption by investigating correlations between genotype- and genome-based measures of diversity using two plant population genetic datasets: one observational with data collected at Konza Prairie, KS, and the other based on simulated populations with five levels of genotypic richness, a typical design of genetic diversity experiments. We found conflicting results for both datasets; we found a mismatch between genotypic and genomic diversity measures for the field data, but not the simulated data. Last, we tested the consequences of this mismatch and found that correlations between genetic diversity and community/ecosystem properties depended on metric used. Ultimately, we argue that genome-based measures should be included in future studies alongside genotypic-based measures because they capture a greater spectrum of genetic differences among individuals.
10aCommunity diversity10aEcosystem function10aGenome diversity10aPhenotype10aSGDC1 aAvolio, M.L.1 aBeaulieu, J.1 aLo, E.1 aSmith, M.D. uhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11258-012-0069-6