Reverse ecology

Reverse ecology refers to the use of genomics to study ecology with no a priori assumptions about the organism(s) under consideration. The term was suggested in 2007 by Matthew Rockman during a conference on ecological genomics in Christchurch, New Zealand. Rockman was drawing an analogy to the term reverse genetics in which gene function is studied by comparing the phenotypic effects of different genetic sequences of that gene. Most researchers employing reverse ecology make use of some sort of population genomics methodology. This requires that a genome scan is performed on multiple individuals from at least two populations in order to identify genomic regions or sites that show signs of selection. These genome scans usually utilize single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, though use of microsatellites can work as well (with reduced resolution).