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Updated: Jul 1, 2026

Environmentally Induced Heritable Changes in Flax
Published on: January 27, 2011
Genetic consequences of tropical second-growth forest regeneration
Uzay U Sezen1, Robin L Chazdon, Kent E Holsinger
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-3043, USA. uzay.sezen@huskymail.uconn.edu
Abstract:
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.
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