| Tropical regions are increasingly dominated by mosaics of forest remnants and human-dominated matrices. The impact this has on the population ecology and population genetics of tropical trees is poorly understood at this time. Over the past two decades, allozyme research has begun to unveil the genetic dynamics of tree populations in continuous tropical forest. Similarly, traditional demographic studies have revealed much about ecological processes in continuous forest. Recently, the advent of a new class of genetic marker, hypervariable simple sequence repeats or microsatellites, permits the exploration of a new frontier in tropical tree biology. This includes traditional pursuits of population genetic and demographic concerns, but also a unique combination of the two disciplines. Population genealogies can be reconstructed and used to ascertain habitat-specific patterns of fecundity and survivorship which can be linked to genetic processes to gain detailed insights regarding landscape-level responses of tree populations to forest fragmentation. These data and procedures should prove valuable for landscape management purposes, such as the design of nature reserves, and the enhancement of our basic understanding of biotic interactions in complex environments. |
