Postdoctoral Fellow Publishes in Science Magazine

From Plant Press, Vol. 1, No. 5, September 1998.

Postdoctoral Fellow Preston Aldrich and co-author James Hamrick (University of Georgia, Botany Department) had an article published in the July 3 issue of Science on the effects of forest fragmentation on the population biology of the tree Symphonia globulifera (Clusiaceae). They applied hyper-variable genetic markers to trace patterns of parentage on a Costa Rican population, showing that most of the numerous seedlings in remnant forest had been produced by adults in adjacent pasture. The patterns of parentage indicated that the number of donors to the gene pool had been reduced by deforestation but also through foraging responses of the animal pollinators (hummingbirds) and seed dispersers (bats). These results indicate that substantial changes in population and community dynamics can result from tropical forest fragmentation, yet remain undetected by one-time surveys of community composition.