The use of molecular data in mangrove plant research

Abstract

The use of molecular data in plant studies has increased dramatically duringthe last decade. Recently, molecular techniques have been applied tomangrove plants to investigate population structure and phylogeneticrelationships. We briefly review research on mangrove plants based onprotein polymorphism and DNA data. Results of these molecular studieshave provided new insights into conservation issues, systematics,biogeography, and population biology of mangrove plants, in many casesrevealing unexpected and surprising patterns.