{"id":17,"date":"2012-10-26T20:49:48","date_gmt":"2012-10-26T20:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/joneslab\/?page_id=17"},"modified":"2026-08-30T15:15:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T22:15:53","slug":"research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/joneslab\/research\/","title":{"rendered":"Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/span>\"Tropical
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Barro Colorado Island \u00b7 Panama<\/p>\n\n\n

BCI EDGE<\/h1>\n\n\n

Evolutionary Dynamics and Genomic Ecology<\/h2>\n\n\n

A genome-enabled forest observatory revealing how ecological interactions shape evolution and maintain tropical biodiversity.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Photo: Christian Ziegler<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The central question<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do ecology and evolution shape tropical forest diversity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Tropical forests contain extraordinary biological diversity, yet we know remarkably little about the genetic basis of adaptation in tropical trees. BCI EDGE addresses this gap by linking individual genomes with long-term records of recruitment, growth, mortality, seed production, environmental conditions and species interactions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The project focuses on conspecific negative density dependence: the reduced survival and growth experienced by trees near many individuals of their own species. Host-specialized pathogens and herbivores appear to drive much of this pattern, but their evolutionary effects on tree genomes remain largely invisible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Tropical forest canopy on Barro Colorado Island. Image: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Why Barro Colorado Island?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An eco-evolutionary observatory<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The 50-hectare forest dynamics plot on Barro Colorado Island is one of the world\u2019s most intensively studied tropical forests. More than 200,000 living trees representing approximately 300 species are tagged, mapped, measured and identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n