ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Landscape genomics

Landscape genomics is like trying to figure out how different plants and animals in a big park are related to each other. It's almost like a puzzle!

First, scientists look at the DNA of all the different plants and animals in the park. DNA is like a little instruction book that tells the plant or animal how to grow and what it looks like.

Then, they try to see patterns in the DNA. They might notice that some plants or animals that live close to each other have very similar DNA. This is because they are a family and they grew from the same "seed" (or "parent" in scientific terms).

The scientists then look at the whole park and see if the different families of plants and animals are in different areas. This is like realizing that all the daisies are in one part of the park and all the roses are in another part.

Finally, the scientists use all of this information to understand how the plants and animals are related to each other and how they got to their different areas in the park over time. This can help them understand how to protect the plants and animals if something bad happens, like if there is a big storm or if people start building in the park.

So, landscape genomics is like putting together a big puzzle of DNA to figure out how plants and animals are related and how to keep them safe.