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Tropical tree gene flow and seed dispersal

Nature volume 401, pages 129–130 (1999)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 09 December 1999

Deforestation affects the genetic structure of the surviving forest fragments.

Abstract

In tropical forests, trees provide habitats and environmental conditions that support thousands of species. However, deforestation creates a mosaic landscape of cleared areas and forest fragments, which become the source of future tree populations. Fragmentation changes the movement of pollen and seed dispersal, modifying the gene flow and altering historical patterns of genetic subdivision. Paternity studies in tropical figs1 and trees2 have shown that pollen is dispersed over long distances, maintaining gene flow among widely spaced forest fragments, but gene movement by seed dispersal has not been studied in tropical trees. I have estimated chloroplast genome subdivision in the Amazonian canopy tree Corythophora alta, and here I show that seed dispersal is limited, with forest fragments as large as ten hectares being founded by a single maternal lineage.

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Figure 1: A 1995 LandSat image of the C. alta populations showing patterns of chloroplast (cp) DNA variation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Reiss Sciences 406, Washington DC, 20057, USA

    Matthew B. Hamilton

  2. Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, National Institute for Research in the Amazon, CP 478, Manaus, AM 69011-970, Brazil

    Matthew B. Hamilton

Authors
  1. Matthew B. Hamilton
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Correspondence to Matthew B. Hamilton.

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Hamilton, M. Tropical tree gene flow and seed dispersal. Nature 401, 129–130 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/43597

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