My primary research focus is a long-term project to measure the genetic impacts of tropical deforestation. A LandSAT image of the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project study area in 1995.
Dark green is intact forest, light green young second-growth forest and red is pasture or bare soil.
Trees in 10 hectare plots of continuous forest are available as controls. Primary growth tropical forest is currently undergoing rapid conversion to pasture, dense second-growth or degraded forest because of timber harvest, agriculture, and settlement. Deforestation is a progressive process that seldom results in the total removal of forest cover. In many instances removal of mature forests results in a mosaic landscape composed of cleared areas and forest fragments. Although short-term effects of fragmentation are clearly evident, there is almost no data to address biological impacts that will be manifest over many years.