At the Crossroads of Genomics and Ecology: The Promise of a Canary on a Chip

The application of technologies from functional genomics to ecological research will add new power to the tools that are currently available for the study of an organism's response to the environment. One particularly important area in which this technology will have a large impact is the study of human and environmental health. In the future, scientists may rely on changes in gene or protein expression in an organism as an early warning of exposure to and effects of different stressors in the environment and as an indicator of the overall health of organisms in the environment.