The effect of natural canopy gaps on the performance of naturally occurring tree seedling populations was studied in a tropical rain forest in French Guiana. This was done at two levels of scale. Firstly, on a 20 m × 250 m forest transect intersecting four canopy gaps, it was investigated how patterns of recruitment, growth and survival of seedlings of Cecropia obtusa, Dicorynia guianensis and Pourouma bicolor differed between canopy gaps and closed forest. Secondly, for one large natural canopy gap, performance of seedling cohorts established before (‘pre-gap’ cohorts) and after (‘post-gap’ cohorts) gap formation was studied in relation to environmental heterogeneity. The direct site factor (DSF) was used as an indicator of light availability in the gap zone. Cecropia specialised in large gaps, and also in specific sites within the large gap: seedling performance was increased by light, and by dead wood. Pourouma mainly germinated under closed forest conditions, where it can survive for a long period until a canopy gap is formed nearby. Pourouma seedlings adjusted well to the new gap environment but they did not specialise in specific places within the gap. Seedling location of Pourouma seedlings was mainly determined by accidental positioning before gap formation. Dicorynia was able to germinate both in gaps and under closed forest conditions. Although the number of gaps studied in this study was low, the results show that seedling establishment, early growth and survival of the three tree species were affected by canopy gaps and by the environmental heterogeneity within a large gap.