JQuery :: How Does Traverse DOM

I am pretty new to jQuery, so apologies for such a basic question. But, it seems to me, the DOM is a hierarchical data set, and jQuery runs up and down this set in order render many of its results.I would like to understand, therefore, what method(s) jQuery uses to traverse the DOM. Is it using some form of indexing - a radix tree maybe?Developing the thought, I am wondering if there are any caching or optimisation steps I could take to help it along.I ask because a) I am always curious about these things b) I would like to write the best code I can based upon as much information as I can get and c) I am starting to use Ajax and, it seems to me, that the sequence and timing of asynchronous requests needs to be carefully thought through. If requests to the DOM can ever conflict (logically or otherwise) with requests to a server, I would like to understand how it all works.