For the past several years, a common garden of around 1800 Populus tremuloides trees (~500 unique genets) known as WisAsp (Wisconsin Aspen) has been at the center of the Lindroth Lab research efforts to understand the underlying plant genetics involved in shaping associated insect communities. This project has involved years of preparation and data collection and analyses involving dozens of people from high school interns and undergraduates to graduate students, postdocs and staff scientists. All of this hard work by so many talented and eager scientists is now bringing us new insights into how the genetics of a foundation forest tree species (and the most common tree in North America) can influence the composition of the surrounding community.

Our initial genome-wide association (GWA) analyses results, published in Molecular Ecology, have displayed that we can put the “genes” into “genes to ecosystem ecology”. This study is one of the first to identify candidate genes associated with heritable plant traits that explain diversity in associated herbivorous insect communities. We are honored to have our contribution to furthering the study of community genetics recognized by the scientific community via a beautifully written perspective piece by Dr. Gina Wimp, Associate Professor at Georgetown University.