Taking Quantitative Genomics into the Wild

Abstract: A key goal in studies of ecology and evolution is understanding the causes of phenotypic diversity in nature. Most traits of interest, such as those relating to morphology, life-history, immunity and behaviour are quantitative, and phenotypic variation is driven by the cumulative effects of genetic and environmental variation. The field of quantitative genetics aims to quantify the additive genetic component of this trait variance (i.e. the "heritability"), often with the underlying assumption that trait variance is driven by many loci of infinitesimal effects throughout the genome. This approach allows us to understand the evolutionary potential of natural populations and can be extended to examine the genetic covariation with fitness to predict responses to selection. Therefore, quantitative genetic studies are fundamental to understanding evolution in the wild. Over the last two decades, there has been a wealth of studies investigating trait heritabilities and genetic correlations, but these were initially limited to long-term studies of pedigreed populations or common-garden experiments. However, genomic technologies have since allowed quantitative genetic studies in a more diverse range of wild systems and has increased the opportunities for addressing outstanding questions in ecology and evolution. In particular, genomic studies can uncover the genetic basis of fitness-related quantitative traits, allowing a better understanding of their evolutionary dynamics. We organised this special issue to highlight new work and review recent advances at the cutting edge of "Wild Quantitative Genomics". In this Editorial, we will present some history of wild quantitative genetic and genomic studies, before discussing the main themes in the papers published in this special issue and highlighting the future outlook of this dynamic field.