The study of island biogeography is a field within biogeography that attempts to establish and explain the factors that affect the species diversity of a particular community. In this context the island can be any area of habitat surrounded by areas unsuitable for the species on the island; not just true islands surrounded by ocean, but also mountains surrounded by deserts, lakes surrounded by dry land, forest fragments surrounded by human-altered landscapes. The field was started in the 1960s by the ecologists Robert MacArthur and E.O. Wilson, who coined the term theory of island biogeography, as this theory attempted to predict the number of species that would exist on a newly created island. Biogeography is the science which deals with questions of species patterns of distribution and the process that resulted in such patterns. ... Species diversity refers to the number and distribution of species in one location. ... Habitat (from the Latin for it inhabits) is the place where a particular species lives and grows. ... The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... Robert H. MacArthur (April 7, 1930-November 1, 1972) was an American ecologist who made a major impact on many areas of community and population ecology. ... E.O. Wilson with Dynastes hercules E. O. Wilson, or Edward Osborne Wilson, (born June 10, 1929) is an entomologist and biologist known for his work on ecology, evolution, and sociobiology. ...

Theory of Island Biogeography

The theory of island biogeography holds that the number of species found on an island (the equilibrium number) is determined by two factors, the effect of distance from the mainland and the effect of island size. These would affect the rate of extinction on the islands and the level of immigration. In biology and ecology, extinction is the ceasing of existence of a species or group of taxa. ...

Islands closer to the mainland are more likely to receive immigrants from the mainland than those further away from the mainland. The equilibrium number of an island close to Africa is going to be larger than that of one found in the mid-Atlantic. This is the distance effect. The size effect reflects a long known realtionship between island size and species diversity. On smaller islands that chance of extinction is greater than on larger ones. Thus larger islands can hold more species than smaller ones. The play between these two factors can be used to establish how many species an island can hold at equilibrium. // Etymology World map showing Africa (geographically) The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans, who used the name Africa terra — land of the Afri (plural, or Afer singular) — for the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day... The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one_fifth of its surface. ...

The theory of island biogeography was tested by Wilson and his student Daniel Simberloff in the mangroves off Florida. Small islands of mangroves were surveyed then fumigated with methyl bromide to clear their insect and arthropod communities. The islands were then monitored to study the immigration of species to the islands (the experimental equivalent of the creation of new islands). Within a year the islands had been recolonised, and had reached equilibrium, with islands closer to the mainland having more species, as predicted. Daniel Simberloff Daniel Simberloff is perhaps best known as a student of the biologist E.O. Wilson and one of the co-authors of the theory of Island biogeography with writings such as the 1969 paper: Experimental Zoogeography of Islands: The Colonization of Empty Islands. ... Above and below water view at the edge of the mangal Mangrove are woody trees or shrubs that grow in coastal habitats or mangal (Hogarth, 1999), for which the term mangrove swamp also would apply. ... State nickname: Sunshine State Other U.S. States Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville (largest metropolitan area is Miami) Governor Jeb Bush (R) Senators Bill Nelson (D) Mel Martinez (R) Official language(s) English Area 170,451 km² (22nd)  - Land 137,374 km²  - Water 30,486 km² (17. ... The chemical compound bromomethane is an organic halogen compound with formula BrCH3. ... Classes & Orders Subclass: Apterygota Orders Archaeognatha (Bristletails) Thysanura (Silverfish) Monura - extinct Subclass: Pterygota Infraclass: Paleoptera (paraphyletic) Orders Ephemeroptera (mayflies) Protodonata - extinct Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) Diaphanopteroidea - extinct Palaeodictyoptera - extinct Megasecoptera - extinct Archodonata - extinct Infraclass: Neoptera Orders Blattodea (cockroaches) Isoptera (termites) Mantodea (mantids) Dermaptera (earwigs) Plecoptera (stoneflies) Protorthoptera - extinct Orthoptera (grasshoppers... Subphyla and Classes Subphylum Trilobitomorpha Trilobita - Trilobites (extinct) Subphylum Chelicerata Arachnida - Spiders, Scorpions, etc. ...

Island Biogeography and Conservation

Within a few years of the publishing of the theory its application to the field of conservation biology had been realised and was being vigorously debated in ecological circles. The realisation that reserves and national parks formed islands inside human-altered landsacpes (habitat fragmentation), and that these reserves could lose species as they 'relaxed towards equilibrium' (that is they would lose species as they achieved their new equilibrium number, known as ecosystem decay) caused a great deal of concern. This is particularly true when conserving larger species which tend to have larger ranges. A study by William Newmark, published in the journal Nature and reported in the New York Times, showed a strong correlation between the size of a protected National Park -in the U.S.- and the number of species of mammals. This led to the debate known as single large or several small (SLOSS), described by writer David Quammen as 'ecology's own genteel version of trench warfare'. In the years after the publication of Wilson and Simberloff's papers ecologists had found more examples of the species area-realtionship, and conservation planning was taking the view that the one large reserve could hold more species that several smaller reserves, and that larger reserves should be the norm in reserve design.This view was in particular championed by Jared Diamond. This led to concern by other ecologists, including Dan Simberloff, who considered this to be an unproven over-simplification that would damage conservation efforts. Habitat diversity was as or more important than size in determining the number of species protected. Some conservation biologists have been concerned about the Amazon rainforest. ... (Ecology is sometimes used incorrectly as a synonym for the natural environment. ... Yosemite National Park in the United States. ... Nature is one of the oldest and most reputable general-purpose scientific journals, first published on November 4, 1869. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... In probability theory and statistics, correlation, also called correlation coefficient, is a numeric measure of the strength of linear relationship between two random variables. ... ... The SLOSS Debate was a debate in ecology and conservation biology during the 1970s and 1980s as to whether a Single Large or Several Small (SLOSS) reserves was a superior means of conserving biodiversity in a fragmented habitat. ... Jared Mason Diamond (born September 10, 1937) is an American author, evolutionary biologist, physiologist, and biogeographer. ...

In species diversity, Island Biogeography most describes allopatric speciation. Allopatric speciation is where new gene pools arise out of natural selection in isolated gene pools. Island Biogeography is also useful in considering sympatric speciation, the idea of different species arising from one ancestral species in the same area. Interbreeding between the two differently adapted species would prevent speciation, but in some species, sympatric speciation appears to have occurred.

References

• MacArthur, R. H. and Wilson, E. O. 1967. The Theory of Island Biogeography Princeton University Press.
• David Quammen. 1997. The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions. Scribner. ISBN 0684827123