  A key goal in studies of ecology and evolution is understanding the causes of
phenotypic diversity in nature. Most traits of interest, such as those relating
to morphology, life-history, immunity and behaviour are quantitative, and
phenotypic variation is driven by the cumulative effects of genetic and
environmental variation. The field of quantitative genetics aims to quantify
the additive genetic component of this trait variance (i.e. the
"heritability"), often with the underlying assumption that trait variance is
driven by many loci of infinitesimal effects throughout the genome. This
approach allows us to understand the evolutionary potential of natural
populations and can be extended to examine the genetic covariation with fitness
to predict responses to selection. Therefore, quantitative genetic studies are
fundamental to understanding evolution in the wild. Over the last two decades,
there has been a wealth of studies investigating trait heritabilities and
genetic correlations, but these were initially limited to long-term studies of
pedigreed populations or common-garden experiments. However, genomic
technologies have since allowed quantitative genetic studies in a more diverse
range of wild systems and has increased the opportunities for addressing
outstanding questions in ecology and evolution. In particular, genomic studies
can uncover the genetic basis of fitness-related quantitative traits, allowing
a better understanding of their evolutionary dynamics. We organised this
special issue to highlight new work and review recent advances at the cutting
edge of "Wild Quantitative Genomics". In this Editorial, we will present some
history of wild quantitative genetic and genomic studies, before discussing the
main themes in the papers published in this special issue and highlighting the
future outlook of this dynamic field.
