Molecular Approaches for Studying Root Herbivores

The use of molecular techniques in insect ecology has expanded rapidly, allowing ever morechallengingquestions tobeaddressed.Comparedto their abovegroundequivalents, root herbivoremolecular ecology has received less attention, despite essentially the same ecological questions being of importance in both the aboveand belowground ecosystems. Studies so far have concentrated on economically important taxa, using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequencing and a variety of markers to investigate the species identity and relationships, population dynamics and dispersal, distribution, feeding behaviour and interactionswith other organisms. Although this has proved useful for elucidating these aspects of their ecology, there remains a need to focus on the functioning of root Advances in Insect Physiology, Volume 45 # 2013 Elsevier Ltd ISSN 0065-2806 All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-417165-7.00005-2 219 herbivores in the soil ecosystem. Application of new and emerging technologies developed for aboveground systems will increasingly be applied to those belowground, allowing a focus on root herbivore biology and ecology in the context of ecosystem processes and systems ecology. For the foreseeable future, however, the use of molecular techniques is likely to remain dominated by the need to address pragmatic research questions about specific taxa, notably pests.