Island biogeography

MacArthur, R.H. Wilson, E.D. (1%7). The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton Princeton University Press. 

One of the most widely used indexes of community structure has been species diversity. Many measures for diversity are used, from such elementary forms as species number to measures based on information theory. A decrease in species diversity is usually taken as an indication of stress or impact upon a particular ecosystem. Diversity indexes, however, hide the dynamic nature of the system and the effects of island biogeography and seasonal state. As demonstrated in microcosm experiments, diversity is often insensitive to toxicant impacts. 

Related to diversity is the notion of static and dynamic stability in ecosystems. Traditional dogma stated that diverse ecosystems were more stable and therefore healthier than less rich ecosystems. The work of May in the early 1970s did much to question these almost unquestionable assumptions about properties of ecosystems. We certainly do not doubt the importance of biological diversity, but diversity itself may indicate the longevity and size of the habitat rather than the inherent properties of the ecosystem. Rarely are basic principles such as island biogeography incorporated into comparisons of species diversity when assessments of community health are made. Diversity should be examined closely as to its worth in determining xenobi-otic impacts upon biological communities. 

Microcosms do not have some of the characteristics of naturally synthesized ecological structures. Perhaps primary is that multispecies toxicity tests are by nature smaller in scale, thus reducing the number of species that can survive in these enclosed spaces compared to natural systems. This feature is very important since after dosing, every experimental design must make each replicate an island to prevent cross contamination and to protect the environment. Therefore the dynamics of extinction and the coupled stochastic and deterministic features of island biogeography produce effects that must be separated from that of the toxicant. Ensuring that each replicate is as similar as possible over the short term minimizes the differential effects of the enforced isolation, but eventually divergence occurs. 

The other model, namely the meta-population model, is the island biogeography concept, which refers to reduction of area and fragmentation of populations, threaten species survival and biological diversity. This also explains only that of the land size as a factor for GE model. Both the niche and meta-population theory are the part of bioecogeographic enhanced GE model. In the meta-population model, particular populations may not be so important as long as their alleles and agro-morphological characteristics are present in other linked populations. This useful notion is included in the model, but it is not easy to verify. 

A.F. (1990). Bryophyte island biogeography a study in Lake Manapouri, New Zealand. Oikos 59, 21-26. 

The theory of island biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton. 

Island biogeography. Ecology, evolution, and conservation. Second edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 

A general dynamic theory of oceanic island biogeography. Journal of Biogeography 35, 977-994. 

Quammen, D. (1996). The song of the Dodo Island biogeography in an age of extinction. New York Scribner. 

Sanmartin, L, van der Mark, P., and Ronquist, F. (2008) Inferring dispersal A Bayesian, phy-logeny-based approach to island biogeography, with special reference to the Canary Islands. Journal of Biogeography, 35 428-449. 

Murphy, R.W. and Aguirre-Le6n, G. (2002) The nonavian reptiles Origins and evolution. In A New Island Biogeography of the Sea of Cortez (eds. T.J. Case, M.L. Cody, and E. Ezcurra), Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 181-220. 

The endemic flora of the Canary Islands. Pages 207-240 In Biogeography and... 

Roque-Albelo, L. (2000). The tiger moths (Arctiidae) of the Galapagos Islands, their biogeography and life history. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Lepidopterists Society, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, July 2000. 

Bramwell, D. In Biogeography and Ecology of the Canary Islands-, G.Kunkel Publ The Hague,1976, pp. 207-240. 

P. et al. (2009). The curse of taxonomic uncertainty in biogeographical studies of free-living terrestrial protists a case study of testate amoebae from Amsterdam Island. Journal of Biogeography 36,1551-1560. 

Vanderpoorten, A., Devos, N., Goffinet, B., Hardy, O.J., Shaw, A.J. (2008). The barriers to oceanic island radiation in bryophytes insights from the phylogeography of the moss Grimmia montarui. Journal of Biogeography 35, 654-663. 

Triantis, K.A. et al. (2010). Are species-area relationships from entire archipelagos congruent with those of their constituent islands Global Ecology and Biogeography 19, 527-540. 

Craw, R.C., Continuing the synthesis between panbiogeography, phylogenetic systematics and geology as illustrated by empirical studies on the biogeography of New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, Syst. Zool, 37, 291-310, 1988. 

Tazawa, J. (1993) Pre-Neogene tectonics of the Japanese Islands from the viewpoint of palaeo-biogeography. Journal of the Geological Society of Japan, 99, 525-543 (in Japanese). 

Polhemus, D. A. (1996) Island arcs and their influence on Indo-Pacific biogeography. In The Origin and Evolution of Pacific Island Biotas, New Guinea to Eastern Polynesia Patterns and Processes (ed. A. Keast and S.E MiUer). SPB Academic Publishing, Amsterdam, pp. 215-232. 

Rosen, B.R. (1984) Reef coral biogeography and climate through the Late Cainozoic Just islands in the sun or a critical pattern of islands In Fossils and Climate Geological Journal, special issue II (ed. P. Brenchley), John WUey and Sons, Chichester, UK, pp. 201-262. 

Cowie, R.H. and Holland, B.S. (2006) Dispersal is fundamental to biogeography and the evolution of biodiversity on oceanic islands. Journal of Biogeography, 33 193-198. 

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