The paper review the naturalness related concepts, with a special emphasis on forests, and also their implications on forest conservation. Beside naturalness, key aspects of wild(er)ness, ecosystem integrity, ecosystem health, forest quality and authenticity are disscussed. The main approaches on forest naturalness are presented, including the basic (minimum) naturalness requests, the shortcomings of associating high extreme naturalness levels (virgin, pristine) to forests, or the necessity to consider the temporal component of naturalness (e.g. the forest history).

Microsatellite loci that were previously developed in the tropical tree Tabebuia aurea were used for the genetic analysis of Tabebuia roseo-alba populations. Nine of 10 simple sequence repeat markers were amplified, and the polymorphism was assessed in 58 individuals sampled from two stands in southeastern Brazil. All loci were polymorphic with Mendelian inheritance. The allele numbers were high, ranging from 5 to 13 in population I and 3 to 7 in population II, with means of 8.9 and 5.5, respectively.

Global efforts to reduce deforestation rely heavily on protected areas and land use restrictions. The effect of these restrictions on local communities is currently the subject of heated debate among conservation and development experts. Measuring the social impacts of protected areas is difficult because the effects cannot be isolated from other factors, given the nonrandom placement of protection.