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Science 11 February 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5711, p. 891
DOI: 10.1126/science.1105034
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Brevia

Genetic Consequences of Tropical Second-Growth Forest Regeneration

Uzay U. Sezen,* Robin L. Chazdon, Kent E. Holsinger

Secondary forests are more extensive than old-growth forests in many tropical regions, yet the genetic composition of colonizing populations is poorly understood. We analyzed the parentage of a founder population of 130 individuals of the canopy palm Iriartea deltoidea in a 24-year-old second-growth forest in lowland Costa Rica. Among 66 trees in adjacent old-growth forest, only two individuals contributed 56% of the genes in founders. Second-growth trees had lower genetic diversity and larger patches of similar genotypes than old-growth trees. Recovery of genetic diversity of populations in tropical second-growth forests may take many generations and will require continued dispersal from genetically diverse source populations.

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269–3043, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: uzay.sezen{at}huskymail.uconn.edu

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