Understanding the adaptive functions of an organism requires an account of how genotypes, phenotypes and the environment interact to effect individual fitness. This task begins by identifying genes of ecological importance - those that encode a trait of interest and other interacting genes. Several approaches are available to accomplish this first mission, including gene position mapping, the isolation of candidate loci, and using microarrays to probe global gene expression for patterns that specify all the genes responding to an environmental challenge. Ultimately, functional tests are required to confirm the association between genes and phenotypes. However, sufficient progress has been made to at least begin exploiting the Daphnia system. Approaches to hunting ecological genes are highlighted among the following pages.

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