By Rry A. Palevitz Understanding the genetic structure of ecosystems is important in saving biodiversity. That's especially vital as humans fragment vast natural areas into isolated patches, cutting off avenues for outcrossing. Unfortunately, scientists' understanding of breeding systems and gene flow may be even more fragmented than the ecosystems.
Botanists are hard at work remedying the situation.
Using genetic markers, they analyze plant paternity and infer how far pollen travels on gentle breezes or the backs and bills of animal pollinators. By comparison, however, not much is known about maternal gene flow in seeds after fertilization. Matthew Hamilton , assistant professor of biology at Georgetown University, has now partially filled the seed void using the tropical tree Corythophora alta . As major primary producers in terrestrial ecosystems, trees provide food and protection for a host of other species. 1 Reasoning that chloroplasts containing their own genes are transmitted exclusively in the maternal line in most plants, Hamilton assessed previous seed dispersal patterns by assaying trees for chloroplast DNA markers, or polymorphisms.