The Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution brings together senior researchers from five universities throughout the country. Massey University, the host organisation, will be joined by researchers from the University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington, as well as Canterbury and Otago Universities. The "Wilson Centre" comprises world class ecologists, evolutionary biologists and mathematicians who will work together to unlock the secrets of our plants, animals, and microbes.

Molecular Ecology publishes papers that utilize molecular genetic techniques to address consequential questions in ecology, evolution, behaviour and conservation. Research areas of interest to the journal include: population structure and phylogeography, reproductive strategies, relatedness and kin selection, sex allocation, population genetic theory, analytical methods development, conservation genetics, speciation genetics, individual and species identification, microbial biodiversity, genetic marker development, evolutionary dynamics of QTLs, ecological interactions, molecular adaptation and environmental genomics, impact of genetically modified organisms.

The major research focus of the group is understanding the evolution, behaviour, ecology and genetics of arthropod societies. The consequences of socialty for natural selection processes are studied primarily in honeybees (Apis mellifera L.), but also in social wasps, ants, and social spiders.

University of Southampton, School of Biological Sciences, Techniques in Molecular Ecology: A Researchers Guide. These pages have been designed by Keef Anderson and compiled by Gugs Lushai during projects funded by the BBSRC (AO1666) and The Leverhulme Trust (F/180/AP).