Island Biogeography: Ecology, Evolution, and ConservationIsland biogeography is the study of the distribution and dynamics of species in island environments. Due to their isolation from more widespread continental species, islands are ideal places for unique species to evolve, but they are also places of concentrated extinction. Not surprisingly, they are widely studied by ecologists, conservationists and evolutionary biologists alike. There is no other recent textbook devoted solely to island biogeography, and a synthesis of the many recent advances is now overdue. This second edition builds on the success and reputation of the first, documenting the recent advances in this exciting field and explaining how islands have been used as natural laboratories in developing and testing ecological and evolutionary theories. In addition, the book describes the main processes of island formation, development and eventual demise, and explains the relevance of island environmental history to island biogeography. The authors demonstrate the huge significance of islands as hotspots of biodiversity, and as places from which disproportionate numbers of species have been extinguished by human action in historical time. Many island species are today threatened with extinction, and this work examines both the chief threats to their persistence and some of the mitigation measures that can be put in play with conservation strategies tailored to islands. |
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Common terms and phrases
adaptive radiation anagenesis analyses animals archipelago Asteraceae biotas bird species Canarian Canaries Cape Verde Chapter climatic colonists colonization competition conservation continental Diamond dispersal distribution diversity dynamic ecological ecosystems effects El Hierro EMIB endemic species environmental equilibrium evolution evolutionary example exotic extinction rate Figure flora forest founder effects fragments Galápagos genetic groups habitat islands habitat loss Hawaii Hawaiian hotspot human immigration incidence functions increasing insular introduced species ISAR island biogeography island biotas island ecology island species isolation Krakatau land landscape lineages lizards Lomolino loss Macaronesia MacArthur and Wilson mainland mammals metapopulation monophyletic native nestedness niche number of species occur oceanic islands Pacific patches patterns plant species pollinators polyploidy population predators processes range region remote islands resource sea level Simberloff speciation species number species richness studies successional supertramp taxa taxon taxon cycle Tenerife term theory tion tropical turnover volcanic Whittaker Zealand